The  Rural  School  in  the  United 
States 


THESIS 

Presented   April   4,  1906,    to   the  Graduate   School   in    the 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  Partial  Fulfilment 

of  the  Requirements  for  the  Degree  of 

Doctor  of  Philosophy 


BY 
JOHN  COULTER  HOCKENBERRY 

CALIFORNIA,  PA. 

1906 


1908 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


-BY- 


JOHN  COULTER  HOCKENBERRY,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of  Pedagogy  and  Psychology, 
in  the  State  Normal  School,   California,  Pennsylvania 


Presented  April  4,  1906,  to'tbe/L\erisr±m'en^'<i?',I^b0»?sc,p>y  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements 
for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 


Published  by  the  Author, 

California,  Pennsylvania. 
PRICE       -       75  cents  1 


Postpaid  ^^^'  Sept.  1,  1908. 

State  Normal  School, 
Westfield,  iMassacbusetts. 


Copyrighted,  1908 
By  the  Author 


CONTENTS 

Introduction  .  .  .  .  .  .1 

Chapter  I.     Economical  and  Social  Condition  of  Present- 
Day  Rural  Communities  ...  8 

Chapter  II.     The  Rural  School  of  To-day  as  Compared 
With  That  of  An  Earlier  Day  .  .  .21 

Chapter  III.     Our  Rural  School  as  Compared  With  That 
of  Prussia  ......  29 

Chapter  IV.     The    Rural    as    Compared    With    the  City 
School     ......  41 

Chapter  V.     The  Rural  School  of  To-day   :    An  Inductive 
Study  .  .  .  .  .  .54 

Chapter  VI.     The  Rural  School  of  To-day  (Contin'd)  70 

Chapter  VII.     The  Rural  School  of  To-day  (Concl'd)  83 

Chapter  VIII.     The  Rural  School  of  the  Future         .  97 

Chapter  IX.     The  Rural  School  of  the  Future  (CM'd)  107 

Reference  List       .  .  .  .  .  .118 

General  Index  .  .  .  .  .  125 


339371 


PREFACE. 

NE  need  not  feel  called  upon  to  make  any  apology  for 
offering  a  study  on  the  Rural  School  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  felt  by  those  most  competent  to  judge 
that  it  is  one  of  the  most  pressing  of  all  our  educa- 
tional problems.  There  has  been  a  birth  of  interest  in 
this  important  subject  within  the  past  dozen  years.  An  increas- 
ing number  of  educators  and  public  spirited  men  have  devoted 
more  or  less  attention  to  this  subject,  and  we  have  several 
recent  studies  on  a  rather  comprehensive  plan.  But  none  of 
them  have  been  taken  as  a  pattern  for  the  present  study.  It 
follows  a  plan  of  its  own.  Its  one  object  is  to  show  the  typical 
rural  school  in  its  limitations,  its  manifest  defects  ;  and  then 
to  point  out  what  it  might  be  made.  It  does  not  belong  to 
those  studies  which  find  a  remedy  for  an  existing  evil  in  some 
pet  theory  or  legislative  act.  The  rural  school  can  be  brought 
up  to  what  such  an  institution  ought  to  be  only  by  a  great  cam- 
paign of  enlightenment  and  education  along  broad  lines.  Public 
opinion  must  be  shaped,  and  the  public  will  aroused  to  activity. 
This  points  to  a  sphere  of  influence  and  activity  for  educa- 
tional and  social  leadership  in  the  near  future  that  is  unpre- 
cedented in  our  educational  history.  Hence,  in  the  recon- 
strtiction  of  the  rural  school  there  is  room  for  the  play  of  all 
sorts  of  talent  and  all  kinds  of  activity  along  many  lines. 
Some  of  the  great  needs  are  more  money,  better  teachers, 
better  schools  plants  and  school  grounds,  a  much  improved 
and  enriched  course  of  study,  and  a  longer  school  year.  But 
of  still  greater  moment  is  that  enlightened  public  opinion 
which  is  keenly  sensitive  to  educational  needs  and  values, 
which  knows  what  it  wants  in  the  rural  school  and  how  to 
get  it.  Keenly  felt  wants  condition  all  real  social  improve- 
ments. So  it  must  be  in  the  improvement  of  the  rural  school. 
It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  it  was  this  strongly  felt  need  of 
better  understanding  of  the  rural  school  problem  that  led  the 
author  to  attempt  this  study  ;  not  any  sense  of  fitness  or  special 
preparation  for  the  work.  If  it  serves  to  interest  another,  or 
others,  to  make  a  more  thorough  study,  giving  us  more  care- 
fully and  elaborated  conclusions,  and  directions  what  to  do  for 
the  improvement  of  the  rural  school,  the  writer  will  feel  re- 
warded for  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  what  he  regards  as  a  great 
cause. 

During  the  prosecution  of  the  study  the  author  has  re- 
ceived help  from  several  men  with  whom  he  was  in  more  or 
less  intimate  touch,  and  he  desires  to  record  his  obligation  and 
gratitude  for  the  assistance  rendered.  The  suggestion  of  the 
subject  for  the  study  was  made  by  Dr.  Theo.  B.  Noss,  Prin- 


cipal  of  the  California  (Pa.)  State  Normal  School.  He  has 
also  made  valuable  suggestions  on  the  method  and  content  of 
the  study.  To  Dr.  M.  G.  Brumbaugh,  my  esteemed  teacher 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  to  Drs.  H.  T.  Lukens, 
Chas.  E.  Browne  and  C.  L,.  Ehreneld,  stimulating  colleagues 
in  the  Normal  School  faculty,  thanks  are  due  for  assistance 
on  points  that  could  not  now  be  enumerated.  But  for  the 
statements  and  conclusions  the  writer  alone  is  responsible.  A 
still  greater  debt  is  due,  if  possible,  to  the  unnamed  band — 
state,  county,  and  district  superintendents  in  many  parts  of 
our  country,  who  so  willingly  took  the  time  to  answer  a  long 
questionaire.  These  ofiScials  have  to  a  large  measure  supplied 
the  data  for  the  inductive  part  of  the  study. 

For  the  comparative  and  historical  parts  the  author  is 
indebted  to  the  Libraries  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 
Harvard  University,  the  Library  of  Congress,  and  that  of  the 
Bureau  of  Education  in  Washington,  and  hearty  recognition 
is  here  expressed  for  the  courteous  aud  efficient  assistance 
rendered  by  the  authorities  of  the  several  Libraries. 

J.  C.  H. 
California,  Pennsylvania,  April  7,  1908. 


The  Rural  School  In  The  United  States 


INTRODUCTION. 

wo  methods  are  available  for  the  student  of  any  social 
fact,  phenomenon,  or  product.  According  to  the 
first  method  he  will  concern  himself  with  the  size, 
the  amount,  the  numerical  proportions  of  the  thing 
in  hand.  Observation  is  superficial,  confining  itself  to 
traits  that  are  patent  even  to  the  casual  observer.  The  other  de- 
mands a  consideration  of  traits  and  distinctions  of  a  ■  more 
hidden,  more  subtle,  more  intricate,  more  recondite  nature. 
Progress  is  more  painstaking,  more  doubtful,  less  rapid.  In 
thcformer  method,  distinctions  of  quantity  are  of  primary 
importance,  while  in  the  latter  those  of  quality  are  of  chief 
concern.  Finely  drawn  distinctions  are  not  necessary  in  this 
place,  but  it  might  be  pointed  out  that  the  one  is  the  method 
of  the  sense,  the  other  the  method  of  reason  ;  the  one  is  the 
method  of  the  letter,  the  form,  while  the  other  is  the  method 
of  the  spirit.  The  ultimate  value  of  everything  is  expressible 
only  in  terms  of  the  spirit.  If  the  further  progress  of  civili- 
zation and  of  democracy  is  not  to  be  impeded  all  thinking  men 
and  women  must  assume  toward  every  social  fact  and  problem 
an  attitude  that  will  take  cognizance  of  distinctions  and  marks 
of  quality  rather  than  those  of  quantity  and  number.  For  the 
sake  of  convenience  and  brevity  in  this  study,  the  terms 
quantitative  and  qualitative  are  adopted  to  characterize  these 
two  attitudes  and  methods  respectively,  in  spite  of  the  techni- 
cal significance  of  the  terms  in   chemistry  and  other  sciences. 

(130). 

In  America  our  educational  progress  has  been  made  along 

lines  that  are  chiefly  quantitative.  Of  course,  there  can  be 
no  qualitative  consideration  of  education  until  its  quantitative 
development  has  received  a  certain  amount  of  emphasis.  The 
qualitative  investigation  of  any  set  of  facts  would  seem  to 
come  later,  too,  because  the  qualitative  is  a  later  type  of  re- 
flection. (130)  So  far,  largely  absorbed  in  the  accumulation 
of  a  vast  material  basis  for  a  great  civilization,  we  could 
scarcely  be  expected  to  have  done  very  much  in  the  domain  of 
qualitative  reflection. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  in  our  estimate  of  people, 
the  quantitative  standards  appear  with  entirely  too  much 
prominence.  Clergymen  are  often  classified  according  to 
salary,  and  other  professions  are  not  more  exempt  from  such 
standards.  Even  our  great  poets  and  prose  writers  have  been 
enumerated  in  classes  according  to  the  amount  received  in 
royalties,    and  the  number  of  editions   and   copies   of   their 


4         THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED    STATES 

master-pieces.  What  were  Socrates'  tuition  fees  as  teacher  ? 
What  was  the  royalty  on  Plato's  Dialogues  or  on  Aristotle's 
Treatises?  What  were  the  material  rewards  of  Aeschylus, 
Euripides,  and  Sophocles  as  play  writes?  are  questions  which 
it  would  surprise  us  greatly  to  find  asked  anywhere  in  the 
writings  of  antiquity. 

But  nowhere,  perhaps,  are  these  standards  quite  so  ap- 
parent as  in  our  American  educational  system  in  schools  of  all 
grades.  All  are  ambitious  for  large  numbers,  for  million  dol- 
lar endowments,  for  magnificent  school  architecture  planned 
on  a  5cale  of  huge  proportions,  for  libraries  which  shall  number 
their  volumes  in  the  hundreds  of  thousands,  for  landscape 
architecture  devised  on  a  scale  of  imposing  dimensions.  This 
quantitative  march  of  events  has  invaded  the  inner  life  of  the 
school  from  Kindergarten  to  university,  and  is  very  conspicuous 
in  our  courses  of  study  and  in  our  daily  programs  of  lectures  and 
recitations.  In  our  Kindergarten  it  would  seem  to  be  the  aim 
to  display  how  many  exercises,  games,  songs,  stories  and  plays 
can  be  crowded  into  every  day's  work.  In  the  elementary 
school  it  IS  the  aim  to  include  in  the  curriculum  every  phase  of 
our  increasingly  complex  civilization,  while  our  high  schools 
have  outstripped  all  lower  schools  in  quantitative  enrichment. 
If  the  high  school  has  to  a  certain  extent  invaded  the  sacred 
domain  of  the  old-time  college,  the  latter  has  wreaked  a  double 
vengeance:  it  has  fixed  its  entrance  requirements  so  high  as 
sometimes  to  tax  the  capacity  of  the  high  school,  and  it  has 
pushed  its  work  up  into  the  sphere  of  the  university.  The 
university,  to  meet  the  varying  needs  of  its  thousands  of  un- 
dergraduate students  (most  of  whom  are  just  out  of  the  high 
or  preparatory  school,)  is  compelled  to  plan  and  offer  a  vast 
number  of  courses,  so  that  many  students  are  seriously  em- 
barrassed to  know  what  courses  to  choose. 

Nor  are  these  the  only  cases  illustrating  the  over-em- 
phasis that  we  have  been  placing  upon  the  quantitative  side  of 
our  educational  development,  for  the  normal  school  in  many 
states  offers  a  still  more  glaring  example  of  this  phenomenon, 
which  one  might  almost  call  a  law.  Its  curriculum  is  generally 
burdened  with  a  lot  of  material  that  legitimately  belongs  to 
the  high  school  or  even  the  elementary  school.  It  often  hap- 
pens that  the  normal  school  graduate  goes  out  wondering 
what  "  all  that  stuflE"  called  psychology,  history  of  education, 
principles  of  theory  and  practice,  was  taught  for.  It  is  a  case 
of  mental  conflict  between  the  academic  and  the  pedagogical 
aspect  of  the  different  subjects  of  study,  and  the  academic 
system  of  ideas  has  practically  displaced  the  pedagogical. 

Quantitative  standards  are  further  shown  in  our  tests  for 
promotion,  for  admission  to  college  or  university,  for  entrance 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED   STATES  5 

upon  the  pursuit  of  the  various  professional  or  technical 
careers.  Until  quite  recently,  and  even  now  to  an  extent 
which  would  surprise  most  of  us  if  we  reflected  upon  its  mean- 
ing, these  various  requirements  have  been  set  forth  as  such 
and  such  books,  such  and  such  chapters  of  specified  books. 
Kven  to-day  our  colleges  know  no  better  standard  of  require- 
ment in  modern  languages  than  that  which  is  suggested  by 
the  phases  ' '  so  many  pages  of  modern  prose  and  so  many 
pages  of  classic  poetry. "  To  a  less  extent  this  is  still  the  stand- 
ard also  in  Greek  and  Latin.  There  is  an  interesting  attempt 
to  substitute  qualitative  for  quantitative  standards  in  language 
work,  to  be  seen  in  the  announcement  of  certain  college  cata- 
logues, to  the  effect  that  one  oration  committed  to  memory 
shall  be  counted  equal  to  three  as  ordinarily  studied,    (i) 

Another  illustration  of  our  uniform  quantitative  attitude 
is  to  be  found  in  the  development  of  our  common  school  course 
of  study  from  the  three  R's.  That  it  has  been  a  case  of  quan- 
titative rather  than  qualitative  enrichment  goes  without  say- 
ing. This  line  of  enrichment  has  run  through  the  interest- 
ing fields  of  history,  geography,  algebra,  physiology  with  all 
of  its  hygiene  and  temperance  addenda,  drawing,  object  lessons, 
vocal  music,  nature  study,  literature,  language  work  and  ele- 
mentary science.  Now  the  loudest  cry  is  rising  from  every 
educational  assembly  for  deliverance  from  the  tyranny  of  this 
whole  quantitative  procedure.  We  have  not  abandoned  our 
ideal  of  enrichment,  but  we  can  procure  real  enrichment  only 
through  the  elimination  of  all  that  is  unnecessary  or  antiquated 
in  our  present  course  of  study. 

Most  of  our  texts  in  the  several  subjects  have  been 
written  altogether  from  the  quantitative  standpoint.  The 
subject  must  be  treated  in  a  scientific,  that  is,  in  a  full  man- 
ner. There  has  been  no  time  to  waste  in  considering  the 
child's  nature  or  real  needs  in  life.  The  question  of  the  time- 
allotment  of  the  different  subjects  was  not  even  thought  of 
until  recently.  Hence,  our  texts  have  generally  been  mere 
compendiums  of  the  several  subjects  of  the  curriculum,  and 
woe  to  the  child  whose  memory  failed  to  record  every  fact  or 
whose  will  rebelled  at  the  outset  of  the  stultifying  procedure  ! 
He  was  unhesitatingly  branded  a  blockhead,  without  any 
thought  of  a  coming  irony  of  fate,  when  history  should  dis- 
credit the  pedagogue's  judgment  !  These  facts  are  set  forth 
not  as  denunciatory  of  educational  theory  and  practice  in 
America,  but  simply  to  establish  the  point  that  we  have  really 
done  little  towards  a  serious  study  of  our  educational  output 
on  its  qualitative  side ;  or  at  least,  we  have  not  gone  into  the 
schools  to  find  out  just  what  are  the  causes  of  given  character- 
istics in  our  educational  output.     But  there  are  many   signs 


6  THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

that  we  are  now  entering  upon  that  phase  of  reflection  upon 
our  theory  and  work.  The  modern  movement  of  child  study 
may  be  cited  in  proof  of  a  change  of  front  in  the  whole  educa- 
tional world.  This  new  discipline  has  amply  proved  its  right 
to  exist,  if  in  nothing  else,  at  least  in  this,  that  it  has  led  to 
more  serious  study  and  reflection  than  teachers  have  ever 
made  hitherto.  Perhaps  the  most  pregnant  question  of  mo- 
dern educational  thought  is  this  :  ' '  What  is  the  nature  of  the 
creature  we  are  to  educate  f ' '  And  with  this  interrogation  in 
mind,  the  modern  teacher  approaches  his  educational  work. 
Child  study  is  giving  us  a  new  attitude  in  all  our  educational 
work,  and  teaching  us  that  the  child  is  something  more  than 
a  tabula  rasa  upon  which  we  can  re-image  the  world  in  what- 
ever fashion  or  garb  may  suit  our  desire  or  convenience  ;  it  is 
a  self-active  being  well  on  its  way  to  self-mastery  and  world- 
mastery  before  it  ever  comes  under  the  influence  of  the  school 
as  such.  With  him  there  is  assimilation  of  new  things  to 
previous  experience  and  life  or  else  no  real  growth  results  from 
his  contact  with  the  teacher  as  teacher.  This  process  of 
growth  by  assimilation  and  reaction  to  environment  goes  on, 
too,  quite  independently  of  teacher  and  parent,  although  it  is 
either  facilitated  or  retarded  and  perverted  by  those  persons. 
With  the  majority  of  teachers  the  chief  trait  of  pedagogical 
practice  for  upwards  of  a  thousand  years  has  been  the  mem- 
oriter  appropriation  of  preceptive  declaration  or  the  imitative 
execution  of  command,  all  originality  and  reflection  being 
wholly  unwelcome,  and  from  the  child  study  movement  comes 
the  only  ra>  of  hope  that  we  shall  ever  be  delivered  from  our 
thraldom  to  this  memory  fetich  in  elementary  education. 

In  the  next  place  we  have  begun  to  reflect  upon  our 
course  of  study  and  every  separate  part  thereof.  We  have 
learned  much  from  the  creeds  of  our  masters  in  education. 
We  have  called  in  question  the  older  statements  of  the  aim  of 
education  and  even  that  of  life  itself,  and,  not  being  wholly 
satisfied  with  our  findings,  mark  them  tentative.  We  will 
listen  attentively  and  respectfully  to  anyone  who  seems  to 
have  anything  to  say  on  education. 

We  have  collected  vast  quantities  of  facts  on  the  nature 
of  the  child,  and  all  sorts  of  educational  problems,  and  have 
endeavored  to  draw  some  conclusions  therefrom,  and  we  got 
little  further  than  tentative.  And  this  is  the  only  way  to  ad- 
vance to  a  higher  standard  of  doctrine  and  practice  in  educa- 
tion. Other  sciences  and  disciplines  have  gone  through  stages 
that  were  similar.  In  fact,  all  the  sciences  of  recognized  stand- 
ing have  proceeded  by  steps  as  uncertain  and  wavering  as  we 
are  now  making,  but  some  of  them  have  walked  out  into  the 
day-light  of  accuracy  and  maintain  the  truths  of  their  several 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES  7 

domains  by  a  comparatively  universal  validity  of  principle  and 
law.      (2) 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  we  are  rapidly  approaching 
a  re-adjustment  of  our  whole  public  or  common  school  educa- 
tional system.  There  is  no  room  for  the  play  of  pessimism  as 
to  the  final  outcome  or  the  character  of  this  adjustment.  We 
shall  not  lack  our  educational  prophets  and  lawgivers  in  the 
future  as  we  have  not  lacked  them  in  the  past.  The  whole 
mass  of  material  which  has  been  collected  and  is  now  being 
rapidly  increased  by  newly  discovered  facts  in  every  field  of 
study  which  centres  in  the  child  or  man,  unpromising  as  it  may 
appear,  is  shot  through  and  through  with  the  golden  threads 
of  truth  and  potent  suggestion.  Some  day  he  will  come,  who 
can  disentangle  every  thread  of  gold  from  the  encumbering 
mass  and  fit  it  into  the  tapestry.  In  the  meantime,  all  ought 
to  be  grateful  that  the  mass  is  accumulating,  that  educational 
problems  are  increasing  in  number  and  complexity,  and  that 
we  may  hope  for  the  advent  of  the  master  weaver  ! 


8  THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 

CHAPTER  I. 

Economic  and  Sociai<  Conditions  of  Present-dat 
Rural  Communities 

The  first  thing  that  the  student  of  the  rural  school  of  to- 
day will  notice  is  the  changed  economic  and  social  conditions 
of  rural  communities.  With  respect  to  these  conditions, 
rural  communities  in  most  parts  of  our  country  have  under- 
gone more  change  within  a  half  century  than  rural  communi- 
ties ever  did  before.  The  evidences  are  more  striking  in  some 
parts  than  in  others,  but  everywhere  the  changes  have  been 
silently  taking  place.  Referring  to  the  accumulation  of  wealth 
and  the  promotion  of  human  welfare,  Charles  Francis  Adams 
says  that  the  change  witnessed  the  past  century  was  greater 
than  that  of  all  previous  centuries.  (3)  But  the  real  condition 
of  the  rural  inhabitant  depends  upon  many  things  besides  the 
accumulation  of  material  wealth.  Along  with  the  satisfaction 
of  basal  material  wants  has  come  a  number  of  new  wants,  and 
their  satisfaction  or  the  lack  thereof.  That  wants  have  an 
important  function  in  the  production  of  wealth  is  quite  as 
true  as  the  statement  that  the  possession  of  material  wealth 
enables  us  to  satisfy  many  of  our  wants.  Therefore  wants 
are  as  much  to  be  reckoned  with  in  social  studies  as  surplus  of 
production. 

It  will  be  in  order  to  name  and  discuss  briefly  some  of  the 
agencies  and  means  by  which  the  farmer's  economic  and  social 
condition  has  been  changed  within  the  last  few  decades. 

I.  The  general  extension  of  railroads  and  trolleys.  The 
advent  of  a  railroad  transforms  any  community  through  which 
it  passes,  and  especially  any  in  which  it  has  a  station.  The 
railroad  is  a  means  of  connection  between  the  rural  community 
and  the  rest  of  the  world,  with  its  highways  of  trade  and  its 
news  centers.  It  is  really  the  railroad  that  first  brings  to  clear 
consciousness  in  the  rural  mind  the  fact  that  there  is  a  great 
busy,  throbbing,  real  world  far  away  from  the  confines  of  the 
little  farm.  With  what  wonder  and  awe,  and  deep  emotions 
that  are  nameless,  an  isolated  farmer  saw  the  first  train  come 
flying  towards  and  past  his  little  estate  !  That  first  train  in 
the  '40's,  '50's,  '6o's,  and  the  '70's,  what  a  magician  it  was  ! 
What  changes  its  "chain  of  linked  uproar  long  drawn  out  " 
has  wrought  all  over  our  land  !  It  has  gone  linking  thousands 
of  rural  neighborhoods  with  the  great  world  of  commerce,  of 
manufactures,  of  literature,  of  art,  of  every  known  industry. 
Now  for  the  first  time  come  to  the  rural  store  the  unknown 
fruit  and  the  nameless  article.  But  soon  the  names,  tastes, 
sounds,  qualities  and  virtues  of  these  commodities  are  as  well 


THE  RURAL   SCHOOL   IN    THE  UNITED  STATES  9 

known  in  the  rural  village  as  they  were  in  the  marble  palaces 
on  the  great  avenues.  Sensation,  perception,  and  appercep- 
tion have  been  doing  their  work  in  a  world  all  but  unknown. 
The  people  are  being  educated  by  the  unfailing  accompani- 
ments of  the  railroad. 

The  first  car-ride  of  an  isolated  farmer  and  his  family 
stands  out  in  memory  with  clearness  and  lively  interest.  At 
first  being  only  excursions  to  county  fairs  or  campmeetings, 
these  trips  lengthen  out  to  some  trading  emporium,  state  or 
national  capital,  to  some  sea-side  or  mountain  resort. 

The  trolley  has  extended  the  work  already  begun 
by  the  railroad.  It  has  rendered  frequent  access  to  neighbor- 
ing cities  and  towns  an  inexpensive  affair.  It  has  suburban- 
ized  vast  stretches  of  rural  country  lying  in  the  environs  of 
all  our  large  cities.  It  has  not  displaced  the  railroad,  but  it 
has  met  a  need  not  adequately  provided  for  by  it.  The  value  of 
the  trolley  car  in  marketing  certain  kinds  of  rural  produce  has 
been  noticed  by  every  observant  traveller.  The  trolley  rail- 
way has  changed  the  economic  and  social  condition  of  the 
farmer  wherever  it  has  gone,  and  its  rapid  extension  to  all 
parts  of  the  country  is  one  of  the    marked  features  of  our  age. 

Thus  further  educational  processes  are  at  work  in  the  life 
of  the  farmer  and  his  family.  He  will  interpret  most  that  he 
sees  from  the  standpoint  of  utility  on  the  farm,  and  he  learns 
much  that  will  have  this  utilitarian  value.  Thus  the  railroad 
and  the  trolley  are  directly  and  indirectly  a  means  of  distribu- 
tion for  new  ideas  of  life,  labor,  and  economic  efficiency. 
With  the  extension  of  the  railway  has  come, 

2.  The  general  introduction  of  labor-saving  agricultural 
implements.  By  means  of  such  implements  one  man  can  now 
do  the  work  which  it  formerly  required  many  to  do.  Thus 
multiplied  efficiency  of  labor  through  labor-saving  devices  is 
found  in  agriculture  as  well  as  in  modern  manufacture.  In 
this  place  may  be  named  the  sulky-plow,  harrow,  cultivator, 
and  liner  ;  the  mower,  harvester,  header,  and  thrasher  ;  Hay- 
loaders  and  rickers,  corn-  huskers,  to  say  nothing  of  imple- 
ments employed  on  the  great  farms  of  the  West,  such  as  the 
steam-plow  and  large  harvesters  which  head,  thresh,  clean, 
measure,  bag  the  wheat,  and  pile  these  bags  in  equal  heaps  by 
the  side  of  the  moving  machine.  As  early  as  October  1859, 
the  scientific  magazines  and  agricultural  papers  had  much  to 
say  about  the  celebrated  "Fawks"  Steam  Plow,"  by  which 
the  cost  of  breaking  up  an  acre  of  prairie  was  reduced  from 
$2.50  to  64^  cents.  There  were  eight  plows  abreast,  and  the 
traction  engine  was  of  thirty  horse  power.  Three  men  could 
plow  with  it  twenty-five  acres  in  a  day.  This  invention  was 
rewarded,   and  further  inventions  encouraged,   by  a  $30,000 


10        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL.  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

prize  given  by  an  Illinois  Society.    The  plow  sold  for  $4,000.  (4) 

These  labor-savers  affected  more  than  the  economic  condi- 
tion of  the  farmer.  With  their  introduction  came  more  time 
for  reflection  and  the  substitution  of  brain- work  for  bra<vn- 
work.  The  increase  of  the  leisure  of  a  community  is  a  factor 
which  must  be  reckoned  with  in  social  science  and  all  kindred 
\r,  subjects.  So  far  as  labor  is  concerned  the  efifect  of  the  intro- 
duction of  such  implements  is  two  fold  ;  viz  ;  (i)  to  lessen  the 
asperities  of  agricultural  toil,  and  (2)  to  shorten  the  hours  re- 
quired to  take  care  of  a  given  number  of  acres.  The  effect  of 
increasing  a  community  's  leisure  hours  is  a  raising  of  the 
"  standard  of  life.  "  (5) 

In  the  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Labor 
Statistics  we  read  that  the  effect  of  the  ten-hour  law  in  Eng- 
land was  to  raise  the  educational  condition  of  the  laborers,  as 
shown  in  their  increased  attendance  at  church,  public  lectures, 
mechanics'  institutes  ;  raising  horticultural  and  agricultural 
products  for  exhibits  in  the  time  thus  saved  ;  in  attendance  at 
singing  schools  and  societies,  and  in  increased  attiendance  at 
night  schools.  (5)  The  raised  standard  of  1  ife  signfies  an  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  one's  wants,  but  not  necessarily  in 
the  number  whose  satisfaction  requires  material  things. 
There  are  economies  of  a  higher  order  than  those  that  have  to 
do  with  material,  basal  wants.  Professor  Alfred  Marshall  says 
on  this  point  :  ' '  I^et  us  take  the  term  Standard  of  Life  to 
mean  the  standard  of  Activities  and  Wants.  Thus  an  increase 
in  the  Standard  of  Life  implies  an  increase  of  intelligence  and 
energy  and  self-respect ;  leading  to  more  care  and  judgment 
in  expenditure,  and  an  avoidance  of  food  and  drink  that  gratify 
the  appetites  but  afford  no  strength,  and  of  ways  of  living  that 
are  unwholesome  physically  and  morally.  "(6) 

3.  The  weekly^  or  the  daily  newspaper  and  more  frequent 
mails ;  and  free  rural  mail  delivery.  We  are  all  imitators  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  because  our  minds  are  all  receptive  to 
what  may  be  called  suggestion.  "  Our  whole  mental  life  is  a 
progressive  series  of  suggestions,  or  of  integration  of  ideas. "  (7) 
Both  the  railroad  and  the  newspaper  do  much  through  the 
mere  power  of  indirect  suggestion,  but  they  do  more  than  sug- 
gest :  they  instruct,  inform,  and  educate.  The  educative 
material  of  the  railroad  and  the  newspaper  may  differ  widely 
from  that  set  forth  in  Fox's  Book  of  Martyrs,  but  it  touches 
the  life  of  the  rural  inhabitant  at  every  point  and  changes 
him. 

The  newspaper  keeps  him  informed  on  the  great  move- 
ments of  the  day,  acquaints  him  with  the  literary  and  artistic 
characters  of  his  own  and  other  countries,  gives  him  many 
biographies  and  historic  facts  of  value.     It  instructs  him  in 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES        11 

the  movement  of  prices  for  the  commodities  which  he  may 
have  to  sell,  or  which  he  may  desire  to  purchase.  He  is  often 
influenced  in  his  business  transactions  by  the  information  thus 
obtained.  He  is  no  longer  subject  to  the  deceptions  of  over- 
reaching cattle  dealers,  fruit  dealers,  or  purchasers  of  grain. 
The  farmers'  paper  and  magazine,  too,  have  made  progress 
with  the  railroad  and  the  general  newspaper,  and  have  gone 
beyond  those  limits,  for  there  are  few  agricultural  communities 
in  which  no  agricultural  literature  is  received. 

Free  rural  mail  delivery  is  an  element  alike  in  the  econ- 
omy of  time  and  energy,  and  in  the  education  of  the  farmer. 
It  is  a  new  and  educative  experience  in  the  life  of  any  of  us 
(whether  it  be  in  the  lane  of  a  country  home  or  in  the  marble 
alcoves  of  the  Library  of  Congress)  when  we  are  first  conscious 
that  an  .  employe  of  Uncle  Sam  comes  to  learn  and  do 
our  bidding  It  raises  us  a  little  in  our  own  estimation,  and 
if  the  elevation  is  not  too  great,  the  experience  can  do  us  only 
good.  It  makes  us  a  conscious  "  part  of  all  that  is,"  and  im- 
presses upon  our  mind  the  solemn  lessons  of  mutual  depend- 
ence and  of  promptness,  helpfulness,  and  gratitude, — of  social 
solidarity,  in  a  word. 

It  was  a  happy  co-incident  that  thus  the  improvement  and 
multiplication  of  labor-saving  implements  and  more  frequent 
mails  brought  the  farmer  greater  leisure  and  at  the  same  time 
a  tempting  menu  of  fresh  rending  matter. 

4.  The  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  or  Grange.  This  national 
agrarian  organization  was  instituted  in  Washington,  D,  C, 
Dec.  4.  1867,  by  Mr.  O.  H.  Kelley,  himself  a  farmer.  Just 
previous  to  the  institution  of  the  grange,  Mr.  Kelley,  then  a 
clerk  in  the  department  of  Agriculture,  was  appointed  by 
President  Johnson  to  look  into  the  condition  of  the  Southern 
farmer.  The  result  of  Mr.  Kelley 's  investigation  was  to  con- 
vince him  that  the  thing  most  needed  was  organization — 
organization  for  protection,  for  educational  and  social  improve- 
ment. It  grew  rapidly  in  the  '70's,  13,000  subordinate 
granges  being  organized  in  1873  alone, — an  abnormal  develop- 
ment probably  stimulated  by  the  condition  which  brought  on 
the  financial  panic  of  that  year.  In  1875  there  were  1,500,000 
members.  This  was  an  abnormal  condition,  and  many  whose 
ends  were  unworthy  and  whose  hopes  were  doomed  to  dis- 
appointment, dropped  out  of  the  order,  allowing  the  member- 
ship to  fall  to  a  normal  level. 

The  educational  and  social  features  are  much  emphasized 
by  all  the  prominent  grange  lecturers  and  writers.  There  is 
a  saving  in  the  price  of  many  agricultural  necessities,  but  this 
part  * '  pales  into  insignificance  in  comparison  with  the  educa- 
tional benefits  of  the  order. "    (8)  The  benefits  and  gains  to  the 


12        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

farmer  have  been,  according  to  the  proclamation  of  the  nation- 
al grange  (1891)  as  follows  : 

(1)  Organization  promoted  among  farmers  ; 

(2)  Sphere  of  women  has  been  broadened  ; 

(3)  Condition  of  the  home  improved  ; 

(4)  Renewal  of  patents  on  sewing  machines  prevented,  saving  to 

the  farmer  50  per  cent,  of  their  cost; 

(5)  Important  contests  with  railroads  gained  ; 

(6)  Oleomargarine  law  passed  and  enforced  ; 

(7)  Interstate  Commerce  law  passed  ; 

(8)  Agricultural  representation  in  the  President's  Cabinet  secured; 

(9)  Establishment     of     Agricultural     colleges  and     experiment 

stations  in  many  states ; 

(10)  State  support  and  encouragement   of   farmer's   institutes  in 

several  states  ; 

(11)  State  appropriation  for  public  schools  increased  in  a  number 

of  states  ; 
(13)  Encouragement  of  many  local  improvements,  such  as  roads, 
bridges,  halls,  libraries,  fire  insurance,  etc.  (8) 

The  isolated  farmer  is  at  the  mercy  of  the  rural  store- 
keeper in  the  matter  of  the  prices  he  must  pay  for  certain 
necessities  ;  and  the  prices  of  these  are  often  fixed  far  more 
by  custom  than  by  cost.  He  can  do  much  to  protect  himself 
in  selling  his  produce,  thanks  to  the  daily  and  weekly  news- 
paper,— but  not  so  in  his  petty  purchases.  The  co-operative 
buying  of  the  grange  order  is  often  his  only  salvation  from 
higher  prices  than  those  paid  in  city  stores.  One  Massachu- 
setts grange,  having  102  members,  purchased  in  1891,  $3,000 
worth  of  goods  for  its  members.  (9) 

But  the  grange  organization  is  but  one  feature  of  a  great 
Farmers'  movement  which,  as  Walker  says,  has  taken  differ- 
ent directions  and  affected  different  phases  of  the  farmer's  life. 
These  may  be  classified  into  :  ( i )  The  movement  for  organi- 
zation, showing  itself  in  the  Farmers'  alliance.  Grange, 
National  Farmers'  Congress,  etc.  (2)  The  movement  for 
education  especially  in  the  fields  of  scientific  agriculture,  eco- 
nomics, and  politics.  A  National  Reform  Press  has  been  or- 
ganized with  about  one  thousand  newspapers  pledged  to  sup- 
port the  interests  represented  in  the  Farmers'  Movement. 
(3)  Co-operation,  a  secondary  feature  of  organization.  This 
principle  has  been  employed  with  mutual  advantage  in  the 
marketing  of  grain,  cattle,  etc.;  in  the  purchase  of  many 
things  needed  on  the  farm  ;  and  in  fire  insurance  on  crops  and 
buildings.  (4)  Political  action,  through  agitation,  education, 
and  the  ballot,  looking  to  the  improvement  of  the  agricultural 
classes.   (10) 

y*  5.  The  agricultural  colleges,  the  experiment  station,  and 
the  farmers^  institutes.  These  agencies  have  as  their  mission 
the  education  of  the  American  farmer  in  Ihe  scientific  princi- 
ples of  agriculture  in  all  of  its  departmental  divisions.     The 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES        13 

channels  of  transmission  for  this  scientific  knowledge  are  the 
college  classroom,  reports  on  research  problems  and  all  kinds 
of  experimentation,  more  popular  reports  and  the  instruction 
of  the  farmers  in  the  institutes,  and  the  official  reports  of  these 
institutions.  In  many  of  the  states  the  agricultural  colleges 
rank  among  the  first  institutions  in  the  character  of  their 
faculties,  equipment,  libraries,  output  in  graduates,  and  scien- 
tific achievement.  They  put  every  farmer  of  their  respective 
state  into  potential  relation  with  the  latest  and  best  ideas  in 
the  various  departments  of  agriculture. 

These  agencies  have  greatly  affected  the  economic  results 
of  farming  as  may  be  shown  by  a  few  illustrations.  The  ex- 
periment stations  have  studied  the  nutritive  value  of  different 
foods  for  live  stock,  and  have  shown  the  high  value  of  corn 
stover.  This  is  valued  at  |5 100,000, coo  a  year  now  in  our 
country.  And  by  the  same  means  it  has  been  shown  that 
cotton-seed  is  of  great  value.  The  combined  feeding  and  fer- 
tilizing value  of  cotton-seed  in  the  United  States  is  now  esti- 
mated at  $150,000,000  a  year.  The  results  of  its  investiga- 
tion along  the  lines  of  cold  storage  for  cheese  and  fruits,  vege- 
table and  flower  culture  under  glass,  in  breeding  and  selection 
for  the  purpose  of  improving  the  crops,  the  introduction  of 
new  crops,  values  of  fertilizers,  the  values  of  insecticides,  and 
and  fungicides  have  been  as  great  as  those  to  which  figure 
values  have  been  assigned.  (11)  The  same  authority  points  out 
that  other  results,  though  less  palpable,  perhaps,  must  be 
considered  in  connection  with  the  work  of  these  institutions. 
He  claims  that  the  educational  influence  of  these  institutions 
is  greater  than  the  direct  economic  results.  They  have  tried 
to  counteract  the  prejudice  against  the  agricultural  college. 
They  have  also  furnished  the  material  for  the  formulation  of 
a  science  of  agriculture,  and  point  out  the  waj'  to  research 
problems  and  courses  which  are  of  as  high  academic  value  as 
research  courses  in  any  university.   (11) 

Since  Oct.  18,  1887,  the  Association  of  American  Agri- 
cultural Colleges  and  Experiment  Stations  has  been  very  active 
and  efficient  in  its  efforts  to  promote  agricultural  education  in 
our  country.  (i2)There  are  some  sixty  agricultural  colleges  and 
schools  that  receive  funds  from  the  national  government. 
Many  of  these  are  offering  now  special  short  courses  to  extend 
their  helpfulness  to  a  class  of  young  people  who  will  thus  be 
greatly  benefited,  but  who  could  not  take  the  full  four  years' 
course  required  for  graduation  with  a  degree.   (13) 

Besides  the  work  of  these  institutions,  should  be  mention- 
ed the  great  work  that  is  being  done  in  the  U.  S.  Department 
of  Agriculture  itself.  It  has  become  a  sort  of  graduate  school 
in  agriculture.     Since   1897,   49^  students  of  graduate  rank 


14        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL    IN    THE   UNITED  STATES 

have  been  admitted  to  special  research  work  under  the  scien- 
tific experts  of  the  department.  ( i4)The  total  number  of  publica- 
tions issued  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  1903  was 
938  ;  and  the  total  number  of  copies  of  all  publications  issued 
in  the  same  year  was  little  short  of  12,000,000.  Of  these 
7,000,000  were  farmers'  bulletins.  The  educational  influence 
of  this  vast  body  of  literature  on  the  agricultural  population 
must  be  great.  One  noteworthy  fact  is  that  urban  people  are 
becoming  more  interested  in  agricultural  problems.   (15) 

The  Farmers'  Institute  does  for  the  farming  class  what 
university  extension  lectures  do  for  urban  and  town  popula- 
tions, and  is  thought  to  be  an  outgrowth  of  that  movement. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  an  extension  of  the  work  of  the  Agri- 
cultural College  and  experiment  station.  It  is  strong  through- 
out the  United  States  and  British  North  America.  In  1902- 
'03  forty-five  states  and  territories  of  our  country  supported 
these  institutes  in  part  by  appropriations  varying  in  amount 
from  $20,000  in  New  York  to  $35  in  Hawaii.  For  this  pur- 
pose Illinois  set  aside  $18,500 ;  Ohio  $16,981  ;  Minnesota 
$16,500  ;  Pennsylvania  $15,000  ;  Wisconsin  $12,000  ;  and 
Indiana  $10,000.  The  total  amount  thus  appropriated  that 
year  was  $187,226.  There  were  904,654  persons  in  attend- 
ance upon  the  sessions  of  these  institutes,  and  a  total  of  353, 
700  reports  of  such  meetings  were  printed  and  distributed. 
More  than  one-third  of  the  lectures  were  given  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  staffs  of  agricultural  colleges  and  experiment 
stations,  thus  securing  to  the  farmers  a  class  of  instruction  of 
the  highest  value,  because  given  by  experts  and  authorities 
in  their  several  lines.  (16) 

A  sample  program  of  one  of  these  meetings  is  given  that 
any  reader  who  may  be  unfamiliar  with  the  character  of  these 
meetings  may  see  just  what  is  done.  It  is  that  of  a  farmers' 
institute  held  in  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Brownsville,  Pa.,  Saturday  morning,  afternoon  and  evening, 
February  25,  1905. 

Practical  roadmaking,  Mr.  Foight. 

Farmers  of  to-day,  Mr.  Joel  A.  Herr. 

Maintenance  of  soil  moisture,  Prof.  Franklin  Manges. 

Growing  of  crimson  clover,  Hon.  P.  R.  Schwartz. 

Improvement  of  corn,  Prof.  Menges. 

Centralization  of  schools,  T.  A.  Jeffries,  Esq. 

Large  fruit  growing,  Mr.  Herr. 

Market  gardening,  Hon.  Mr.  Schwartz. 

Hay  and  leguminous  crops,  Professor  Menges. 

Poultry,  Hon.  Mr.  Schwartz. 

A  question  box  was  conducted  at  the  afternoon  and  even- 
ing sessions,  and  local  talent  was  drawn  upon  for  the  usual 
opening  formalities,  music,  and  a  short  paper  or  two.  Professor 


THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES        15 

Menges  is  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Agricultural  College 
staff,  and  lectures  as  an  expert ;  all  the  addresses  seem  to  have 
been  of  a  high  order,    (17) 

6.  The  tendency  to  specialization  in  agriculture  and  in- 
tensive farming.  There  is  a  tendency  which  is  at  work  in  our 
country  to-day,  and  it  must  be  studied  by  those  who  would 
know  what  problems  confront  the  farmer.  This  tendency 
was  Tong  ago  noted  and  commended  by  John  Stuart  Mill.  (18) 
We  are  indebted  to  Mill  for  his  clear  presentation  of  the  econ- 
omic and  social  implication  of  this  tendency.  It  is  in  fact 
both  cause  and  result  of  greater  mental  efiSciency.  This  re- 
minds one  of  Emerson's  conception  that  "  with  God  every  end 
is  a  new  means." 

In  this  type  of  agriculture  more  and  more  depends  upon 
mental  efficiency,  and  less  and  less  upon  chance  ;  brain-labor 
again  takes  the  place  of  brawn-labor.  But  aside  from  any 
consideration  of  mental  efficiency,  it  may  be  safely  stated  that 
the  cultural  effects  of  the  two  types  of  agriculture,  the  exten- 
sive and  the  intensive,  differ  greatly ;  for  the  more  intimate 
knowledge  of  plant  anatomy  and  physiology,  and  of  the  life- 
history  and  growth  of  plants,  which  is  obtained  and  necessary 
under  a  system  of  intensive  agriculture,  is  a  kind  of  knowledge 
bringing  one  into  vital  contact  with  nature's  most  interesting 
and  significant  laws  and  processes,  and  giving  its  possessor  a 
reverence  for  all  law,  and  a  consequent  disposition  to  seek  it 
where  it  is  not  at  first  apparent.  If  this  line  of  argument  is 
consonant  with  the  facts,  it  follows  that  intensive  agriculture 
has  introduced  new  and  positive  elements  of  culture  and  en- 
lightenment into  an  occupation  which  is  not  generally  held  to 
be  conducive  to  those  high  attainments.  This  departure  in 
agriculture  may  be  studied  in  all  of  its  economic  and  social 
bearings  in  the  several  departments  of  truck  farming,  fruit 
raising,  berry  farming,  dairying,  stock  raising,  floriculture, 
bee  culture,  poultry  culture,  and  the  culture  of  flowers  and 
vegetables  in  greenhouses.  The  intellectual  demands  of  such 
industries  upon  one  who  is  to  succeed  therein  are :  ( i )  a 
knowledge  of  the  soil ;  (2)  a  knowlege  of  the  plant  or  crea- 
ture to  be  cultivated  ;  (3)  a  knowledge  of  the  market ;  (4) 
promptness  in  reaching  it ;  (5)  command  of  the  requisite  labor 
in  due  quantity  and  quality.  General  intelligence  is  the 
necessary  background  for  the  proper  display  of  the  specialized 
knowledge.  To  this  group  of  intellectual  prerequisities, 
there  must  be  one  added  which  is  mainly  moral,  viz.,  pains- 
taking care.  Co-operation  may  not  be  increased  by  the  intro- 
duction of  specialization  in  soil  or  animal  culture,  but  the 
farmer  of  this  type  is  in  closer  touch  with  the  great  market 
centers   and   news   centers.     The   socializing   and   educative 


16        THE  RURAL   SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

efifects  of  this  contact  probably  balance  the  loss  of  those  bene- 
ficial results  which  always  flow  from  co-operation,  whose 
socializing  value  is  very  great. 

7,  Improved  rtcral  architecture  is  one  of  the  differences 
which  separate  us  more  or  less  sharply  from  the  earlier  de- 
cades of  our  national  history.  There  are  no  doubt  many 
districts  in  our  country,  where  retarded  development  is  the  rule, 
but  these  are  more  or  less  narrowly  circumscribed,  and  merely 
serve  as  real  or  apparent  exceptions  to  the  law.  As  early  as 
the  '6o's,  and  doubtless  earlier,  much  was  written  and  said 
about  the  improvement  of  farmers'  homes.  Much  of  this 
was  hortatory,  but  in  many  of  the  farmers'  magazines  and 
newspapers  of  those  days  cuts  were  given  to  exhibit  the  best 
ideals  in  practical  rural  architecture. 

Now  it  is  the  condition  of  the  farmers'  home  and  the 
activities  centering  around  it  that  must  serve  as  the  point  of 
departure  for  any  thoroughgoing  study  of  rural  social  condi- 
tions. There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  comforts  of  the  farmer 
have  been  greatly  increased  in  all  the  more  progressive  parts 
of  the  country  within  from  three  to  five  decades.  He  enjoys 
comforts  that  the  wealthiest  could  not  command  in  colonial 
days.  The  feudal  lord  may  have  had  greater  power  and 
wealth,  and  he  may  have  led  an  army,  but  he  could  not  boast 
the  comforts  of  a  typical  American  farmer  of  to-day. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case,  it  will  be  impossible  for  us  in 
our  study  to  determine  precisely  just  what  a  typical  farmer  is 
or  what  the  precise  character  is  of  his  home.  But  a  knowledge 
of  certain  tendencies  and  changes  already  wrought  out  by  and 
for  the  American  farmer  is  necessary  if  one  hopes  to  under- 
stand present  rural  educational  conditions  and  point  out  what 
changes  ought  to  be  made  in  that  system  of  education. 

8.  The  Telephone.  The  introduction  of  the  telephone 
into  the  neighborhood  and  home  of  our  American  farmers  has 
facilitated  the  transaction  of  agricultural  affairs,  proven  a 
saver  of  time  and  energy  and  money,  and  thus  already  has 
become  an  important  item  in  agricultural  economy.  But  this 
is  to  follow  the  introduction  of  this  instrument  of  civilization 
to  only  half  of  its  results  ;  for  the  farmer's  sense  of  oneness  of 
life  and  interest,  of  solidarity,  has  been  thereby  intensified. 
He  may  communicate  with  any  one  of  his  neighbors  at  any 
moment.  It  conduces  to  a  better  knowledge  of  one  another's 
movements,  feelings,  plans,  and  state  of  health.  The  health 
and  welfare  of  the  neighbor's  family  may  be  minutely  inquired 
after,  and  thus  the  community  be  built  up  from  day  to  day 
into  stronger  bonds  of  sympathy  and  goodwill. 

Committees  of  the  grange,  the  church,  the  Sunday  School, 
the  farmer's  institute,  school  boards,  rural  teachers'  associations 


THE  RURAL   SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES        17 

may  now  transact  much  of  their  business  without  traveling 
farther  than  to  the  telephone  instrument.  The  ring  of  this 
instrument  is  a  familiar  sound  in  an  ever  increasing  number 
of  rural  homes.  It  is  to  be  reckoned  as  another  of  civiliza- 
tion's own  instruments  for  the  attainment  of  another  of  its  ben- 
eficient  designs.  According  to  the  United  States  Census 
returns  for  1902  there  were  over  2,315,297  instruments  in  use, 
transmitting  over  5,000,000,000  messages  that  year.  This 
is  an  average  of  one  instrument  to  every  thirty-four  inhabi- 
tants. The  number  in  rural  communities  is  increasing  very 
rapidly.     (19.) 

9.  The  great  mail  order  store  has  done  its  moiety  to 
change  the  economic  and  educational  condition  of  the  farmer. 
It  must  therefore  be  reckoned  among  such  agencies.  The 
claim  of  this  store  is  that  it  dispenses  with  the  services  of  the 
middle  man,  and  saves  that  cost  to  the  purchaser.  It  has 
built  up  a  large  and  increasing  confidence  in  its  policy,  and  in 
its  ability  and  willingness  to  redeem  its  promises,  so  that 
among  farmers  and  mechanics  on  every  hand  one  can  find  the 
voluminous  catalogues  of  these  stores.  These  are  profusely 
illustrated,  giving  explicit  instructions  in  the  method  of  select- 
ing and  ordering  the  staple  desired.  They  are  often  patterns 
of  directness  and  simplicity.  These  catalogues  are  devoted  to 
business,  and  contain  no  striking  advertisements.  Often  a 
nominal  sum  is  charged  for  them.  The  profuse  illustrations 
reduce  to  a  minimum  the  difiSculty  of  selecting  goods  without 
seeing  them.  In  the  judgment  of  the  farmer  the  goods  stand 
the  test,  and  thousands  of  the  farmers  are  classed  among  its 
patrons.  The  educative  effect  of  this  mode  of  purchasing,  the 
real  character  of  the  goods  thus  sold,  the  effect  upon  the 
farmer's  sum  of  expenses  for  annual  purchases,  ought  to  be 
studied  more  carefully  and  analyzed  much  more  in  detail  than 
the  limits  of  this  chapter  will  allow. 

And  yet  in  spite  of  all  these  agrocentric  influences  and 
forces  which  would  seem  to  be  strong  enough  to  hold  the 
farmer  to  his  rural  demesne  until  his  dying  day,  we  hear  wide- 
spread murmurings  of 

,-^'  A  Rural  Exodus.  This  is  not  to  be  classed  as  one  of  the 
agencies  which  have  silently  changed  the  farmers'  economic 
and  social  conditions  ;  it  is  rather  a  result  of  those  conditions 
than  a  cause.  It  is  really  to  be  taken  as  the  farmer's  criticism 
of  his  own  condition  in  the  country  as  contrasted  with  that  of 
his  fellows  in  cities  and  towns.  It  is  a  movement,  an  attitude, 
a  criticism,  and  the  causes  that  have  produced  it  must  be 
sought  by  the  same  analytic  method  by  which  we  have  en- 
deavored to  trace  the  causes  of  certain  changes  in  the  economic, 
social,  and  educational  conditions  of  the  farmer. 


18        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

What  is  the  rural  exodus,  then  ?  We  hear  on  all  sides  com- 
plaints of  the  depopulation  of  certain  rural  areas  of  our  country. 
Farms  are  lapsing  into  wilderness  and  barrens.  This  lamenta- 
tion strikes  us  all  the  more  profoundly,  because  it  comes 
mainly  from  New  England  where  the  country  homes  have 
sent  up  to  the  colleges,  and  thence  out  into  the  world  to  bless 
it,  so  many  men  of  knowledge,  skilled  in  the  technique  and 
high  art  of  leadership.  In  the  early  days  of  New  England, 
brain-culture  went  hand-in-hand  with  field-culture.  No 
sooner  had  an  early  New  Englander  gotten  possession  of  a 
homestead,  than  his  attention  went  out  actively  toward  the 
school,  the  academy,  the  college,  that  his  boy  might  obtain  an 
education.  Education  has  never  been  regarded  as  a  luxury 
in  New  England,  but  has  ever  been  held  as  a  necessity. 
The  motives  may  have  changed  or  not  changed,  but  they  have 
existed,  and  they  have  been  strong  enough  to  be  effective  in 
the  production  of  a  distinctive  type  of  character — the  better 
type  of  New  England  character  as  we  know  it  to-day,  and  as 
we  can  study  it  from  generation  to  generation  in  the  develop- 
ment of  our  country.  Shall  these  dear  old  homesteads, 
therefore,  which  for  several  centuries  have  been  the  recruiting 
stations  for  the  colleges  and  professions  be  abandoned  to  the 
wilderness  and  the  hardy  and  adhesive  foreigner ?  "If  so," 
ask  our  lamenting  seers,  ' '  what  shall  become  of  New  England 
hegemony  in  the  learned  professions,  and  in  the  noiseless  but 
mighty  domains  of  poetry  and  the  philosophy  of  life  ?  ' ' 

There  is  another  class  of  observers  who  take  the  matter 
far  less  seriously.  "It,"  say  they,  "is  a  corollary  of  the  great 
economic 'law  of  diminishing  returns.'  There  is  a  point  in 
the  scale  of  diminishing  returns  beyond  which  it  simply 
does  not  pay  to  farm  land,  or  work  mines,  or  cut  timber,  or 
dig  oil  wells. ' '  (20)  If  this  theory  of  the  situation  is  correct, 
the  rural  exodus  is  an  indication  of  rising  intelligence,  of  a 
better  understanding  of  economic  principles  as  applied  to 
agriculture.  It  shows  a  commendable  determination  not  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  old  ways,  simply  because  they  are  old. 

In  action  the  rural  exodus  takes  one  of  two  forms:  (i) 
from  one  agricultural  area  to  another  ;  (2)  from  the  country 
to  the  town.  We  have,  therefore,  now  to  ask:  What  have 
been  the  chief  causes  of  the  rural  exodus  ?    We  may  answer:— 

I.  Disquieting  reports  of  the  vast  returns  from  "  bo- 
nanza "  farming  in  the  great  West.  Thus  influenced  many  a 
superior  eastern  farmer  broke  every  tie  that  bound  him  to  the 
old  homestead,  and  moved  out  West  to  seek  his  El  Dorado  in 
the  wheat  and  corn  fields  of  the  virgin  prairies.  I,etters  from 
the  immigrant  and  his  family  kept  up  a  continual  ferment  in 
the  old  neighborhood.     Others  followed  him,  and  so  on. 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES        19 

2.  The  same  sort  of  reports  of  more  rapid  advancement 
in  material  possession,  made  and  to  be  made,  in  commercial 
and  manufacturing  enterprises.  Here  is  one  of  the  initial 
links  in  that  chain  of  events  which  culminated  in  all  the  con- 
ditions and  problems  of  a  rapidly  increasing  urban  population. 
These  reports  are  a  yeast  of  disquietude  in  almost  every  rural 
community  in  the  older  parts  of  our  country,  and  the  yeast,  as 
lago  says,  "  is  working." 

3.  The  desire  of  ambitious  country  parents  for  better 
educational  and  cultural  opportunities  for  their  children  than 
the  country  afforded.  This  is  an  important  factor  in  the  rural 
exodus.  Here  we  have  those  familiar  psychical  phenomena 
of  report,  suggestion,  modification  of  apperceptive  systems, 
and  imitation.  This  is  one  oi  the  most  helpful  and  suggestive 
fields  in  all  the  range  of  social  investigation,  and  some  one 
would  do  well  to  work  out  these  phenomena  as  they  are  man- 
ifested in  changing  rural  communities. 

4.  The  desire  for  more  leisure  hours  for  study,  reading, 
etc. ,  is  one  of  the  agencies,  and  has  its  influence. 

5.  The  growing  sense  of  isolation  and  the  grinding  mon- 
otony of  the  agricultural  life  has  also  been  a  potent  factor  in 
producing  the  rural  exodus.  The  social  instinct  is  one  of  the 
strongest  of  our  human  nature.     (21) 

One  hears  less  about  an  instinct  for  change,  for  diversion, 
for  variety,  for  the  novel ;  but  it  is  really  a  question  whether 
it  is  not  an  instinct,  and  a  very  important  one.  And  it  is  so 
general  a  characteristic  among  most  civilized  peoples  as  to  lay 
serious  claim  to  being  a  national,  if  not  a  racial  trait.  James 
gives  us  some  grounds  for  such  a  claim  in  his  discussion  of 
Curiosity.  (22)  And  so  Tennyson  is  true  not  only  to  the 
poetic  art  but  to  the  psychology  of  the  human  heart,  when  he 
sings  in  Ulysses : 

"  I  cannot  rest  from  travel ;  I  will  drink  Life  to  the  lees  .   .   . 
I  am  part  of  all  that  I  have  met ; 
Yet  all  experience  is  an  arch  wherethro' 
Gleams  that  untravelled  world,  whose  margin  fades 
Forever  and  forever  when  I  move. 
How  dull  it  isto  pause,  to  make  an  end, 
To  rest  unburnish'd,  not  to  shine  in  use  ! 
As  tho'  to  breathe  were  life." 

6.  The  narrow  and  restrictive  measures  pursued  by 
many  fathers  with  their  sons  are  responsible  for  many  a 
youth's  anabsis  to  the  city  and  freedom,  where  he  may  have 
opportunity  and  some  time  for  the  play  and  expansion 
of  individuality.  More  time  for,  and  wise  direction  in,  read- 
ing, active  interest  in  the  son's  development  into  full  and 
conscious  possession  of  himself  and  all  his  powers,  into  sym- 


20        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

pathetic  appreciation  of  nature  and  her  laws,  into  conscious 
and  joyous  participation  with  society  in  all  her  activities  and 
plans, — all  these  would  have  saved  to  the  rural  community 
and  home  many  a  promising  youth  ;  and  they  would  have 
made  the  country  a  more  potent  factor  in  the  intellectual, 
civil,  political,  moral,  and  religious  evolution  of  our  national 
life.  But  this  statement  is  virtually  a  begging  of  the  ques- 
tion,— is  too  anticipatory  of  the  conclusion  to  which  our  whole 
study  is  destined  to  lead  us. 

7.  The  instinct  of  activity,  of  constructiveness,  of  prog- 
ress, of  widening  one's  influence,  of  "social  control  "  through 
personal  power  and  achievement,  of  seeking  wider  spheres  for 
growth  and  expansion  '  *  in  all  the  grace  and  beauty  of  which 
we  are  capable," — this  instinct  (if  it  is  an  instinct)  has  driven 
many  a  choice  spirit  to  the  seats  of  culture  and  knowledge, 
and  the  sharp  attrition  of  mind  on  mind.  Unless  there  is  an 
adequate  return  this  type  of  exodus  can  only  impoverish  the 
rural  community.  Of  course,  the  true  poet  will  pray  the 
Muse  that  he  may  touch  the  strings  of  his  lyre  to  make  joy- 
ous and  elevate  the  common  life  in  a  thousand  hamlets  and  on 
ten  thousand  hills.  The  painter,  the  singer,  the  statesman 
and  reformer,  the  preacher  of  righteousness  and  the  larger 
life,  will  all  labor  for  such  a  great  purpose.  The  world  must 
have,  and  will  have,  its  Poet,  its  Prophet  its  Philosopher,  its 
Saint,  its  Architect,  its  Harmonist,  its  Painter,  its  Sculptor, 
its  Ivaw  Giver,  its  Scientist,  its  Humorist  and  its  Achiever, 
whether  the  country  district  is  sometimes  impoverished  or  not. 
For  at  least  once,  the  end  justifies  the  means.  No  one  doubts 
that  the  genius  makes  considerable  return  to  the  community 
from  which  he  came.  Is  it  equally  true  in  the  case  of  those 
possessing  a  lower  grade  of  endowment  or  talent  ?     (23) 


THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES        21 

CHAPTER   II 

Thk  Rural  School  of  To-day  as  Compared  with 
That  of  an  Earlier  Day. 

The  plan  of  this  chapter  precludes  anything  like  a  detail- 
ed account  of  the  rural  school  as  it  was  before  1870,  when  it 
was  fast  approximating  a  common  organization,  and  to  an  al- 
most identical  type  of  administration,  instruction,  and  dis- 
cipline in  all  parts  of  our  country  where  it  had  been  establish- 
ed for  any  time.  (24)  This  tendency  was  at  that  time  so 
strong  as  to  arouse  notes  of  warning  from  various  quarters 
lest  those  who  guarded  the  destinies  of  the  public  school 
should  be  so  much  influenced  by  the  spirit  of  uniformity  as  to 
neglect  local  interests  and  demands.  (25)  The  comparison 
in  this  chapter  can  be  made,  therefore,  only  in  a  general  way. 
A  knowledge  of  the  salient  characteristics  of  the  earlier  school 
will  be  taken  for  granted. 

If  the  host  of  European  visitors  who  travelled  in  our 
country  up  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War  to  study  our  social 
life,  our  educational  system,  our  institutions,  and  our  customs, 
were  permitted  to  re-visit  our  country  this  year  of  Grace, 
1905,  one  of  the  first  remarks  they  would  make  would  be  : 
"  How  the  schools  have  changed  in  architecture,  in  the  char- 
acter of  their  teaching  bodies,  in  the  number,  spirit,  and 
appearance  of  their  students,  in  the  course  of  study,  and  in 
everything  that  goes  to  make  up  a  school  and  a  school 
system  ! "  That  these  changes  are  real,  and  not  mere 
semblances,  is  a  part  of  every  pedogogical  creed.  The 
changes  which  our  supposed  re-visitors,  Siljestrom,  Dupont 
de  Nameur,  Bishop  James  Eraser,  De  Tocqueville,  Grimke, 
and  the  rest,  would  remark  upon,  would  doubtless  cluster 
around  the  schoolhouse,  its  location,  furniture,  and  equip- 
ment, the  teacher,  course  of  study,  general  character  of 
students,  length  of  term,  supervision,  text-books,  and  the 
attitude  of  patrons. 

What  have  been  the  changes,  therefore,  which  have  taken 
place  within  the  past  third  of  a  century  in  our  public  school, 
and  more  particularly  in  our  rural  school  ? 

I.  The  log  schoolhouse  has  passed  away  entirely  unless 
it  be  in  some  mountainous  or  retarded  district  where  architec- 
tural innovations  are  latest  to  intrude ;  the  same  statement 
may  be  made  in  respect  to  the  little  red  schoolhouse.   (26) 

Generally  built  by  the  voluntary  effort  of  the  patron  far- 
mers, who  had  no  knowledge  of  school  hygiene,  and  very 
little  of  school  architecture,  the  schoolhouses  were  uncomfor- 
table, quite  pervious  to  wind  and  rain,  with  low  ceilings  where 


22        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL    IN    THE   UNITED  STATES 

any  were  to  be  found,  and  extremely  awkward  and  stiff  desks 
and  benches.  (27)  In  all  these  respects  the  contemporary 
rural  school  is  greatly  improved.  Albert  P.  Marble  says  that 
much  interest  was  taken  in  school  architecture  during  the  two 
decades  beginning  with  1871.  (28)  He  claims  that  this  at- 
tention was  well  directed  and  bore  fruit  in  the  improvement  of 
schoolhouses,  and  in  sanitation.  Walter  Sargent  writes  :  "Vary- 
ing ideas  of  child  life,  of  what  constitutes  education,  of  the 
relation  to  the  community,  have  changed  the  location  and 
shape  and  furnishings  of  school  buildings.  There  are  por- 
trayed the  renaissance  of  public  education  with  its  demand 
for  good  buildings  and  equipment  and  well  trained  teachers, 
its  higher  ideal  of  discipline  and  its  encouraging  promise  for 
the  future.  The  architecture  and  equipment  grow  very  confi- 
dential with  the  records  and  secrets  they  hold. "  (29) 

While  these  statements  are  not  equally  true  when  applied 
to  the  rural  schoolhouse,  yet  the  general  trend  is  toward  im- 
provement in  rural  school  architecture.  The  houses  are  of 
better  size  and  proportions,  have  higher  ceilings,  and  manifest 
slight  attempts  at  the  ornamental.  They  are  often  kept  neat- 
ly painted  and  are  provided  with  a  small  play-ground,  larger 
window  area,  shutters,  and  flag-pole.  It  must  be  admitted 
that  the  question  of  the  proper  orientation,  ventilation,  and 
heating  of  schoolhouses,  has  not  seriously  burdened  the  coun- 
try mind.  There  are  some  indications  of  greater  care  in  the 
choice  of  sites  for  the  location  of  rural  schools. 

2.  The  furniture  of  rural  schools  has  greatly  improved 
within  comparatively  recent  years.  The  writers  of  school 
reminiscences  are  very  clear  on  this  point.  This  commend- 
able change  can  be  verified  in  the  experience  of  any  person 
whose  memory  spans  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  unyielding, 
clumsy  desk  and  bench  have  been  consigned  to  the  rubbish 
heap  and  a  type  similar  to  those  of  the  city  school  inaugurated. 

3.  School  apparatus  has  increased  in  quantity  and 
improved  in  quality  in  many  of  our  rural  schools.  Reading, 
anatomical,  and  geographical  charts  are  often  found,  and  they 
are  valuable  auxiliaries  in  the  school  room.  Even  if  their 
contents  are  not  always  understood  by  the  young  teacher,  it 
is  a  perpetual  stimulus  of  curiosity,  and  a  difl&cult  question 
from  some  bright  student  will  probably  cause  a  teacher  who 
lays  any  claim  to  self-respect  to  make  some  after-school  re- 
searches into  the  intricacies  of  her  charts.  A  school  globe 
and  a  set  of  mathematical  blocks  are  also  often  found.  Rather 
accurate  maps  are  generally  to  be  found  on  the  walls  of  the 
small  schoolhouse. 

4.  The  course  of  study  is  greatly  changed.  The  number 
of  subjects  has  been  increased,   and  the  demands  in  several 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED  STATES        23 

of  them  have  been  lightened  by  the  elimination  of  what  have 
come  to  be  regarded  as  unimportant  details.  This  process  of 
elimination  has  been  especially  marked  in  arithmetic,  gram- 
mar, geography,  and  history,  but  it  may  be  traced  in  other 
subjects,  as  in  spelling  and  reading. 

The  hope  of  those  who  have  gradually  developed  our 
present  rural  school  curriculum  was  that  it  should  not  be  less 
thorough  than  it  had  been  in  the  days  of  the  three  R's, 
and  that  it  should  be  a  far  richer  course.  It  is  planned  to 
give  the  student  a  much  better  idea  of  his  environment.  This 
was  the  avowed  aim  of  its  authors.  Geography  is  necessary 
that  the  student  may  read  more  intelligently,  may  know  about 
the  earth  as  the  home  of  man.  History  is  necessary  that  he 
may  know  how  the  present  has  grown  out  of  the  past,  how 
great  men  brought  things  to  pass,  and  how  our  country  has 
become  what  it  is.  Physiology  and  hygiene  are  necessary 
that  he  may  know  his  own  body,  the  laws  of  health  and 
growth,  the  structure  and  functions  of  the  body  and  its  parts. 
And  so  on  through  the  list.  Commissioner  Harris  speaks  of 
the  five  windows  of  the  soul,  and  thinks  they  find  their  coun- 
terpart in  the  five  great  lines  of  human  inquiry,  viz  :  mathe- 
matics, science,  history,  literature,  and  language  and 
grammar.   (30) 

5.  The  teachers  of  these  schools  are  not  the  same  teach- 
ers. With  the  passing  of  the  little  schoolhouse  must  be 
recorded  also  the  passing  of  the  old  schoolmaster.  Generally 
a  young  woman  or  a  young  man  who  knows  nothing  of  the 
traditions  of  the  earlier  teacher,  now  occupies  his  place.  The 
teacher  of  to-day  is  younger.  A  year  or  two  earlier  she  was 
probably  a  student  in  the  same  school  in  which  she  is  now  a 
teacher.  The  requirements  for  certification  as  teacher  are 
steadily  becoming  severer,  and  yet  young  people  pass  the 
examinations,  qualify,  secure  a  school,  and  teach. 

Formerly  the  teacher  was  generally  a  man  ;  now  it  is 
more  frequently  a  young  woman.  Jn  either  case  the  average 
term  of  service  is  shorter  than  formerly.  The  young  woman 
may  be  tactful  enough  to  secure  a  reappointment  for  the  sec- 
ond or  third  term  ;  but  according  to  the  law  of  averages,  she 
will  teach  no  more  than  three  years.  She  will  then  marry 
probably,  and  the  place  will  be  taken  by  another  who  has 
come  up  from  the  ranks  of  country  school  students.  If  it  is  a 
young  man,  he  remains  only  until  he  has  enough  money  to  go 
to  college,  enter  upon  the  study  of  some  profession,  or  set  up 
in  business  for  himself.  His  experience  too  is  limited  by  the 
law  of  averages  to  a  service  of  three  years.  The  fact  that  a 
rather  large  number  in  the  aggregate  remain  longer  than  the 


24        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

term  above  indicated  only  goes  to  show  how  many  there  are 
who  really  teach  less  than  the  average  term  of  service. 

It  often  happens  that  this  young  rural  teacher  has  been 
away  to  a  normal  school  or  an  academy,  and  may  even  be  a 
graduate.  Many  such  teachers  bring  to  their  work  a  knowledge 
of  facts,  principles,  and  methods,  together  with  a  confidence 
and  enthusiasm  that  are  simply  irresistible,  and  consequently 
teach  unusually  good  schools.  This  type  is  to  be  found  in 
every  county  where  the  normal  school  has  gone  with  its  ser- 
vice for  the  rural  school.  It  was  this  school  whose  interests 
the  normal  schools  were  designed  first  of  all  to  promote. 

6.  Marked  changes,  too,  must  be  recorded  in  the  size  of 
the  rural  school  in  most  parts  of  our  country.  The  old  build- 
ing designed  to  accommodate  from  forty  to  sixty  children,  if  it 
still  remains,  is  no  longer  filled.  A  smaller  number  of  students 
attend  it.  Moreover,  instead  of  the  sound  of  boundless  merri- 
ment connected  with  the  old-time  games  participated  in  at 
that  earlier  rural  school,  a  quieter  type  of  child  is  found  on 
its  playground.  The  scholars  are  often  painfully  reserved  and 
the  conditions  are  not  such  as  to  conspire  to  the  play  of  gener- 
ous rivalry  and  the  contagious  interest  of  numbers. 

The  prevalence  of  smaller  families  is  doubtless  a  contrib- 
uting cause  of  the  smaller  school  attendance.  The  rural 
exodus  resulting,  as  is  often  claimed,  in  the  utter  abandon- 
ment of  some  rural  homesteads,  and  the  prevalence  of  smaller 
families  would  suffice,  therefore,  to  explain  why  the  school 
now  has  a  smaller  attendance.  Is  the  smaller  school  enroll- 
ment enough  to  explain  the  lack  of  youthful  exuberance  on 
the  playground  ?  Unfortunately,  no  ;  for  it  has  for  several 
decades  been  held  that  a  different  type  of  family  frequently 
occupies  these  homes,  a  family  with  a  lower  standard  of  life. 
If  so,  it  would  send  to  the  rural  school  a  set  of  pupils  less 
playful,  less  ambitious,  less  active  withal,  and  less  responsive 
to  the  play  instinct  and  to  the  educational  and  cultural  appeal. 

The  greatest  care  must  be  exercised  in  such  a  study  lest 
isolated  cases  should  be  taken  as  examples  of  the  whole,  and 
lest  rare  or  local  types  be  too  broadly  generalized.  But  the 
rural  school  will  never  be  fully  understood  until  the  inner  life 
of  the  rural  home  is  much  more  fully  understood  than  it  is 
now.  If  the  school  is  only  one  of  the  educational  agencies 
which  nourish  and  mold  the  whole  life  of  a  child,  the  home 
certainly,  must  be  named  among  the  first  of  such  other  agen- 
cies in  importance.  Possibly  it  would  be  within  the  truth  to 
say  that  up  to  the  time  of  his  entering  the  school  as  such,  the 
home  has  been  more  than  a  school  to  the  child.  But 
what  kind  of  school  has  it  been  ?  There  are  homes  and 
homes,  and  the  educational  value  of  the  home  depends  almost 


THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES        25 

wholly  upon  the  character  of  the  parents.  Hence  arises  the 
educational  significance  of  such  matters  as  the  standard  of  life 
and  the  family  budget ;  matters  long  ago  carefully  studied  and 
clearly  exhibited  particularly  by  such  men  as  I^Play ,  Lavergne, 
Lavoisier,  and  Laveleye,  the  founders  of  social  science. 
Equipped  with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  concepts  and 
methods  of  the  sciences,  both  general  and  special,  I,e  Play  set 
out  with  his  comrade,  Jean  Reynaud,  to  travel  on  foot  4250 
miles  in  200  days  that  he  might  study  social  conditions  of  all 
sorts  of  people  and  test  his  social  theories.  Thus  he  gathered 
the  vast  material  which  took  shape  in  his  work,  '■''Les  Ouvriers 
Europeins^  1885."  "Show  me  your  budget,  and  I  will  read 
your  mode  of  life,"  wrote  Le  Play.  Wants  cannot  be  satisfied 
without  means,  but  wants  are  the  marks  or  indices  of  character, 
seemed  to  be  Le  Play's  line  of  argument.  Hence  the  import- 
ance he  attached  in  all  his  studies  to  the  budgets  and  wants  of 
typical  families.     (31) 

Mr.  Arthur  F.  Bently  about  1893  made  a  careful  study 
of  the  economic  conditions  of  the  farming  class  in  a  small  part 
of  one  of  our  great  western  states.  (32)  Such  studies  pro- 
mise well  for  a  better  understanding  of  the  rural  school  and 
its  needs,  but  to  be  of  the  greatest  educational  value  the 
studies  must  include  what  some  one  has  dared  to  call  the 
"  higher  economies,"  the  whole  intellectual,  moral,  aesthetic, 
and  religious  environment  of  those  farmers. 

7.  The  attitude  of  the  neighborhood  may  teach  us  a 
great  deal  about  the  character  of  the  school  and  its  hold  and 
influence  upon  the  life  of  the  community.  This  has  certainly 
changed  within  a  few  decades.  The  rural  school  has  never 
been  oppressed  by  the  demands  made  upon  it  as  a  social  center 
for  the  community,  and  yet  this  demand  is  generally  far  less 
than  it  was  formerly.  The  spelling-bee,  the  singing  school, 
the  Sunday  School,  the  literary  and  debating  society,  lectures 
and  preaching,  all  meetings  of  a  decidedly  socializing  value, 
are  held  far  less  frequently  in  the  schoolhouse  than  they  were 
several  decades  ago.  Doubtless  the  rural  exodus,  the  preva- 
lence of  smaller  families,  and  the  different  type  of  rural  fami- 
ly are  sufficient  to  explain  the  neglect  of  the  rural  school  as  a 
social  center.  But  to  these  should  be  added  for  the  purpose 
of  complete  analysis  the  increase  in  the  number  of  small 
struggling  rural  churches  with  their  distracting,  disintegra- 
ting influence  so  far  as  the  feeling  of  social  oneness  or  {soli- 
darity is  concerned.  Hence  the  neglect  of  the  rural  schoolhouse 
for  all  but  strictly  educational  purposes. 

The  school  exhibition  was  another  neighborhood  meet- 
ing whose  memory  lingered  long  in  any  rural  community 
where  some  active,  ambitious  teacher  developed  some  feature 


TABLE  I.    LENGTH  OF  SCHOOL  TERM.    From  U.  S.  Com.  of  Ed.  RepoK  J»03j 
Vol.  I,  P.  LXXXVI.    Thl8  curre  shows  only  quinquennial   fluctuations,  not  annua 
ones  as  in  the  original  curve. 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES        27 

that  was  new.  All  these  meetings  furnished  subjects  of  con- 
versation of  a  value  distinctly  higher  than  that  of  the  average 
neighborhood  gossip.  They  made  a  community  aware  of  its 
own  powers,  made  it  conscious  of  itself  as  a  creative  center  on 
a  small  scale.  The  effect  upon  the  community  was  very 
similar  to  that  upon  some  Greek  neighborhood  from  which  a 
youth  went  forth  to  win  a  prize  at  the  Olympian  games. 
Talent  in  students  received  recognition  in  the  minds  of  the  en- 
tire community,  and  an  exhibition  of  unusual  merit  might  for 
a  generation  be  heralded  in  a  rural  neighborhood. 

8.  Length  of  school  term  is  another  respect  in  which 
our  rural  school  differs  from  that  of  several  decades  ago.  By 
repeated  additions  of  a  month,  or  even  of  a  half  month,  often, 
the  term  has  gradually  grown  from  three  or  less  to  four,  from 
four  to  five,  five  to  six,  six  to  seven,  and  from  seven  to  eight 
months  in  rural  districts  in  which  the  lengthening  process  has 
gone  so  far. 

And  in  no  other  country  of  the  world,  probably,  have 
such  changes  in  an  educational  system  come  about  so  grad- 
ually, so  unobstrusively,  and  nowhere,  surely,  have  these 
and  other  like  changes  been  more  completely  due  to  those 
evolutionary  forces  which  are  everywhere  at  work  in  great 
democratic  masses.  But  these  changes  often  exhibit  the 
skill  and  the  wisdom  of  the  educational  leader. 

This  is  the  proper  connection  in  which  to  discuss  briefly 
the  relation  between  the  people  and  their  educational  system, 
and  the  significance  and  method  of  educational  leadership, 
although  these  are  topics  not  very  closely  related  with  the 
subject  of  this  chapter. 

Leaders  of  aristocratic,  if  not  of  anti-democratic  instincts, 
may  have  done  signal  service  for  the  cause  of  popular  educa- 
tion in  America,  but  to  have  any  measure  adopted  and  thereby 
given  a  local  or  state  sanction  it  has  always  had  to  be  submitted 
(i)  either  to  universal  suffrage  where  some  constitutional 
enactment  was  concerned  or  (2)  to  representative  bodies  in 
state,  country,  city  or  district,  chosen  to  such  position  by  uni- 
versal suffrage  within  such  political  division.  This  is  not  to 
the  disparagement  of  educational  leadership,  in  which  there 
is  just  now,  happily,  a  growing  interest.  It  only  shows  what 
may  be  termed  one  of  our  educational  dogmas — in  all  educa- 
tional affairs  of  the  people  it  is  the  people  in  the  last  analysis 
that  must  decide.  Shall  the  learned  and  capable  therefore 
adopt  the  laissez-faire  policy  in  educational  matters?  This 
would  be  the  greatest  of  social  fallacies.  Fortunately  our 
attention  has  been  directed  to  a  sounder  philosophy.  It  has 
been  pointed  out  that  the  people  do  not  really  know  what 
they  want,  and  that  it  is  the  function  of  education,  from  the 


28        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

common  school  to  the  university,  to  enlighten,  instruct,  sug- 
gest, to  lead  the  mass  of  people  along  the  lines  of  their  best 
interests.  (33)  For  the  American  masses  at  least  this  cannot 
be  done  by  methods  of  paternalism,  by  compulsion,  or  forensic 
insistence  ;  far  more  effective  are  the  methods  of  suggestion, 
of  rational  appeal,  of  mild  persuasion.  Here  are  the  basic 
principles  for  a  psychology  of  educational  leadership.  America 
to-day  affords  the  best  examples  in  the  world  of  melioristic 
transformation  in  local  educational  systems  effected  largely 
through  the  instrumentality  of  trained,  expert,  judicious  edu- 
cational leadership.  In  no  other  of  the  great  educational 
countries  is  so  much  left  to  local  initiative  and  trained  leader- 
ship, and  we  have  probably  only  begun  a  period  of  unprece- 
dented development  in  our  public  school  system  through 
this  agency.  The  rural  school  has  been  the  last  of  all  to  feel 
the  transforming  touch  of  such  leadership. 

It  may  be  fairly  said  that  the  principle  of  the  referendum 
is  fully  operative  in  the  sphere  of  the  American  public  educa- 
tional system,  although  in  the  details  of  its  functioning  it  is 
often  awkward,  tedious,  uncertain.  But  if  one  were  to  make 
a  careful  study  of  legislative  enactment  of  "privileged"  or 
"  hereditary  "  representative  bodies  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
the  voted  will  of  great  democratic  masses  on  the  other,  it  is  by 
no  means  a  foregone  conclusion  that  he  would  assign  to  the 
former  the  stronger  evidences  of  unfailing  wisdom  and  judg- 
ment and  a  higher  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  state.  There 
is  nothing  divine,  of  course,  in  the  thought,  feelings,  will  or 
instinct  of  mere  majorities,  whether  it  be  that  of  the  American 
people  in  their  quadrennial  election,  the  Roman  Senate  with 
its  magical  S.  P.  Q.  R. ,  or  the  English  House  of  Lords.  It  is 
possible  for  the  majority  to  be  on  one  side  of  a  great  question 
and  truth  and  justice  on  the  other,  with  a  small  minority  and 
no  champions.  There  is  something  divine  in  the  attitude  of 
every  honest  and  gifted  man  who  sees,  espouses  and  gives 
himself  unreservedly  to  the  cause  of  truth  and  justice  and 
righteousness.  The  divineness  is  all  the  greater  when  in  the 
mouth  and  will  of  the  majority  this  cause  is  given  currency 
and  made  effective.  (131)  The  divinity  is  in  the  nature  of  the 
cause,  the  motive,  the  loyal  support,  the  ceaseless  effort  that 
the  "  will  of  God  may  prevail  in  the  world." 


THE   RURAL  SCHOOL    IN   THE   UNITED  STATES        29 
CHAPTER  III. 

OUR  RURAL  SCHOOI,  AS  COMPARED  WITH  THAT  OF  PRUSSIA. 

It  has  been  said  that  Melanchthon  was  the  teacher  of 
Germany,  and  also  that  Germany  has  been  the  schoolmaster 
of  the  world.  This  is  high  praise,  and  in  many  respects  it 
must  be  conceded  that  it  is  well  merited  praise.  No  other 
nation  has  ever  given  such  serious  and  effective  thought 
to  the  education  of  its  youth.  No  other  nation  has 
ever  developed  a  system  of  education  so  well  suited  to  its  varied 
needs  and  standpoints.  No  other  nation  has  so  satisfactorily 
solved  the  problem  of  universal  education,  bringing  so  inher- 
ently valuable  a  school  training  within  the  reach  of  every 
child  in  the  land,  and  bringing  every  child  to  the  door  of  the 
schoolhouse  in  the  attitude  of  ready  and  reverent  discipleship. 
The  German  schoolmaster  has  begun  at  his  own  home  to  carry 
out  the  secular  aspect  of  the  Master's  great  command  to  disciple 
all  people.  But  this  secular  evangelization  has  radiated 
widely  from  the  Fatherland  ;  for  the  German  schoolmaster's 
philosophy,  his  psychology,  his  pedagogy,  his  methodology, 
his  spirit  of  devotion,  his  broad,  profound  scholarship,  his 
enthusiasm,  and  his  lofty  idealism,  have  set  the  educational 
standards  for  the  civilized  world,  and  have  been  doing  so  for 
nearly  a  century. 

This  does  not  mean  that  Germany's  system  of  education 
is  perfect,  even  when  criticised  according  to  the  standards  of 
an  earlier  day  ;  it  does  not  mean  that  she  needs  to  make  no 
changes  readapting  her  system  to  a  changed  environment  and 
the  demands  of  a  new  age.  It  does  mean  that  in  spite  of  im- 
perfections, her  contribution  to  the  science  and  method  of 
education  has  been  greater  than  that  of  any  other  nation.  Her 
supremacy  in  the  sphere  of  educational  philosophy  and  prac- 
tice is  due  both  to  the  external  circumstances  in  which  she 
was  placed  in  the  opening  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  and 
to  the  very  genious  of  the  people.  These  have  conspired  to 
force  serious  attention  upon  the  education  of  all  the  inhabit- 
ants, and  this  at  a  time  when  by  no  other  nation  was  universal 
education  receiving  such  attention. 

If  to  Athens  is  voted  the  credit  for  having  solved  the 
problem  of  an  aristocratic  education  in  its  physical,  intellectual 
and  aesthetic  aspects,  to  Germany  must  be  given  the  credit 
for  having  discovered  the  worth  of  the  individual  and  the 
great  corollary  thereto,  viz:  that  education  is  the  birthright  of 
every  child  born  to  a  nation.  So  that  Germany  took  up  the 
problem  of  the  education  of  the  race  where  Athens  left  off 
about  twenty-two  centuries  earlier,  converted  a  splendid  aris- 


30        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES 

tocratic  system  of  education  into  one  that  is  thoroughly  demo- 
cratic in  its  way,  and  supplemented  Greek  education  by  carry- 
ing its  operation  into  the  domain  of  the  moral  and  religious 
life.  In  less  than  one  century,  in  this  way  she  has  achieved 
results  which  warrant  the  above  lauditory  predications,  though 
strong  they  may  have  seemed  to  be. 

If  no  more  than  a  fraction  of  these  plaudits  were  deserved, 
there  would  still  be  sufficient  ground  and  warrant  for  the  in- 
troduction at  this  point  in  the  study,  of  a  comparison  between 
the  rural  school  of  our  country  and  that  of  Germany,  or  more 
particularly  that  of  Prussia.  The  chief  points  in  respect  to 
which  a  comparison  will  be  instituted  are  the  course  of  study 
and  the  teacher. 

I.  The  Course  of  Study.  This  is  more  definite,  more 
uniform,  in  Germany  than  it  is  with  us.  There  is  a  uniform 
minimum  course  in  each  state,  and  this  may  be  so  arranged 
and  so  supplemented  by  local  authorities  as  to  suit  local  needs. 
Prussia's  system  of  education  has  been  referred  to  by  visitors 
more  than  that  of  any  other  German  state.  Then,  too,  she 
is  the  dominant  state  to-day  in  the  national  life  and  develop- 
ment of  the  nation,  and  the  largest  of  all  the  German  states. 
These  are  sufficient  grounds  for  the  prevailing  custom  of  tak- 
ing the  course  of  study  in  Prussia  as  typical  of  that  for  the 
whole  country.  Moreover,  it  is  in  Prussia  that  are  to  be 
found  the  beginnings  of  the  public  school  called  into  existence, 
partly  supported,  and  wholly  directed  by  the  state.   (34) 

Prussia's  course  of  study,  required  of  all  schools,  of 
whatever  grade,  is  as  follows  : 

Religion  History 

Language  Geography 

Mathematics  Natural  Science 

Singing  Gymnastics  (boys) 

Drawing  Needlework   (girls) 

Under  language  are  included  speaking,  reading,  spelling, 
writing,  and  under  mathematics  are  to  be  named  arithmetic 
and  elementary  geometry.  If  it  is  remembered  that  pupils  of 
all  schools,  whether  graded  or  not,  are  divided  into  three 
grades  (Stufen),  elementary,  middle  and  upper,  the  following 
table  which  exhibits  the  number  of  hours  given  to  any  sub- 
ject in  each  grade  in  a  week,  will  be  perfectly  plain. 

TABLE  II.  GERMAN  COURSE  OF  STUDY. 

One-Class  School  :  One  Teacher, 
subjects  el.  gr.  mid.  qr.  up.  gr. 

Religion 4...    5...    5 

German  Language 11  ...  10  ...    8 

Mathematics 4...    4...    5 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES       31 

SUBJECTS  EL.  GR.    MID.  GR.    UP.  GR. 

Drawing 1  ...  2 

Science 2  ...  2  . 

Singing 1...2...2 

History 2  ...  2 

Geography     2 ...  2 

Gymnastics  (boys)  "I 

Needlework  (girls)  j 1...  2...  2 

Totals 21  30  30 

If  the  school  has  more  than  one  class,  viz.,  if  it  is  graded, 
the  following  differences  are  to  be  noted  in  the  required  course 
of  study.  Religion  is  taught  only  four  hours  in  the  middle 
and  upper  grades  ;  German  is  taught  8  hours  in  the  middle 
grade  ;  arithmetic  is  taught  4  hours  in  the  upper  grade  ;  geo- 
metry {Raumlehre)  has  two  hours  in  the  middle  grade  ;  science 
may  be  made  4  hours  in  the  upper  grade  ;  and  gymnastics  and 
needlework  have  one  hour  added  in  the  elementary  grade. 

At  first  sight  it  may  not  appear  that  the  Prussian  course 
of  study  is  very  different  from  that  which  is  found  in  the 
American  rural  school.  A  closer  examination  is  required  to 
see  what  the  course  really  is.  There  is  in  every  subject  a 
very  definite  object  to  be  reached.  In  religious  instruction, 
e.  g. ,  it  is  ability  to  read  the  Holy  Scriptures  with  under- 
standing, to  secure  a  knowledge  of  the  chief  dogmas  of  the 
church  to  which  the  children  belong,  and  to  gain  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  practices  and  duties  of  a  religious  life.  Re- 
ligious instruction  may  be  divided  into  ( i )  sacred  history  as 
found  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament ;  the  growth  of  the 
church  in  apostolic  times,  the  history  of  the  church  fathers, 
the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Germany,  Luther  and 
the  great  stand  taken  by  Protestantism  for  the  freedom  of  the 
religious  conscience.  (2)  Bible  reading.  In  the  upper  grade 
chapters  from  the  Psalms,  Prophets,  and  the  New  Testament 
are  studied. 

On  Saturday  the  lessons  for  the  service  of  the  next  day 
are  read  and  explained  ;  a  plan  especially  practicable  in  strictly 
rural  districts  where  the  families  are  adherents  of  the  same 
denomination.  (3)  The  Catechism.  If  it  is  a  Lutheran 
community,  Luther's  Shorter  Catechism  is  taught  and  ex- 
plained. The  lower  grade  learns  the  decalogue,  Lord's  prayer 
and  texts  of  Scripture.  The  pastor  completes  this  work,  pre- 
paring the  older  children  for  confirmation  when  they  leave 
school.  (4)  Sacred  songs,  which  are  taught  through  all 
grades,  beginning  with  those  most  familiar  in  the  particular 
community.  About  thirty  of  these  are  committed  to  memory 
after  every  difl&culty  has  been  explained.  (5)  Prayers.  To 
the  smaller  children  are  taught  prayers  of  morning,  midday 


32        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  evening,  and  these  are  used  at  the  opening  and  closing  of 
school  each  day.  The  various  church  sacraments  and  services 
are  explained  to  the  older  children.  The  German  abounds  in 
beautiful  hymns  which  must  have  a  high  moral  and  religious 
value  when  thoroughly  learned. 

Instruction  in  language  includes  speaking,  reading,  writ- 
ing, and  grammar,  and  these  are  all  kept  in  the  closest 
connection  throughout  the  course.  They  are  thoroughly  cor- 
related, (i)  In  speaking  the  aim  is  to  get  the  children  (a) 
to  pronounce  every  word  correctly  and  distinctly  ;  (b)  to  ex- 
press their  thoughts  freely  and  accurately  in  simple  sentences, 
(c)  to  express  their  thoughts  using  complex  sentences  ;  (d) 
to  express  correctly,  fluently,  and  accurately  thoughts  obtained 
from  book,  story,  address,  in  a  topical  manner.  (2)  In 
writing,  pupils  must  be  able  to  write  and  spell  correctly  any- 
thing that  they  will  meet  with  in  practical  life.  (3)  In 
teaching  reading  the  alphabet  method  is  forbidden  by  law. 
About  thirty  pieces  are  taken  for  a  year's  work,  and  the  con- 
stant aim  is  to  have  pupils  understand  thoroughly  the  thought 
that  is  contained  in  these  selections.  These  pieces  are  to  be 
chosen  and  taught  so  as  to  inculate  a  taste  for  good  literature, 
to  awaken  a  love  for  the  fatherland,  and  to  give  some 
acquaintance  with  the  great  writers.  National  poems  are 
committed  to  memory  after  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  thought 
content.  (4)  Grammar  is  given  in  the  last  years  of  the 
course  and  consists  of  simple  sentences  and  the  simplest  rela- 
tions of  the  parts  of  speech,  followed  by  compound  and  com- 
plex sentences  and  a  more  thorough  study  of  the  parts  of 
speech.  So  much  time  is  given  from  the  first  to  the  thorough 
establishment  of  the  correct  language  habit  that  little  time  is 
required  for  technical  grammar.  The  reading  book  contain- 
ing the  gems  of  German  literature  above  referred  to,  is  the 
basis  of  all  the  other  language  work. 

In  arithmetic  all  the  fundamental  operations  of  concrete 
and  abstract  numbers  from  i  to  100  are  taught  in  the  lower 
grade  ;  in  the  middle  grade  come  unlimited  numbers,  concrete 
and  abstract,  fractions,  reduction,  and  the  simple  rule  of  three; 
while  the  upper  grade  children  review  and  complete  fractions, 
make  applications  of  previous  work  to  problems  of  practical 
life,  and  learn  all  the  branches  of  percentage,  and,  where  possi- 
ble, the  extraction  of  roots.  Mental  calculation  {Kopfrechnen) 
is  the  kind  of  work  that  is  given  to  the  lower  grade  child- 
ren, and  it  must  precede  slate  work  in  every  grade.  By 
means  of  practical  problems  the  system  of  money,  weight,  and 
all  measures  are  taught.  Clear,  correct  language  in  every 
exercise,  ability  to  solve  the  problems  independently,  accu- 
rately, and  rapidly  are  the  points  emphasized.     Exercise  books 


THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES        33 

are  carefully  kept  by  every  pupil,  and  all  exercises  and  prob- 
lems are  recorded  therein  and  solved.  This  is  the  basis  of  the 
work  in  arithmetic,  and  not  a  text-book,  for  there  is  no  such 
text-book  in  common  use. 

Elementary  geometry,  drawing,  and  history  may  be  passed 
over  with  a  few  remarks.  In  all  there  is  a  very  definite, 
practical  aim,  and  the  teacher  know^s  exactly  what  that  aim  is. 
The  national  history  is  developed  chronologically,  but  the 
committing  to  memory  of  chronological  dates  and  events  is 
forbidden. 

Geography  begins  with  a  study  of  the  child's  immediate 
surroundings  (^Heimatkunde) ,  and  reaches  outward  through 
province,  state,  fatherland,  and  world.  Mathematical  geogra- 
phy is  not  neglected.  Mere  memoriter  work  in  connection 
with  cities,  mountains,  rivers,  countries,  and  capitals  is  not 
allowed. 

In  science  the  work  is  made  to  touch  closely  upon  the 
needs  and  surroundings  of  the  children.  It  consists  of  object- 
ive studies  in  physiology,  botany,  zoology,  mineralogy,  and 
physics.  Experiments  are  made  wherever  possible.  The 
aim  is  to  awaken  a  lively  interest  in  natural  phenomena  and 
to  inculcate  the  observing  habit. 

In  singing,  hymns  and  national  songs  are  taught  from 
notes,  the  aim  being  to  make  pupils  sing  correctly  in  chorus 
and  alone.  Thus  each  German  child  goes  out  equipped  with 
a  good  elementary  knowledge  of  musical  notation,  an  interest 
in  music,  and  has  at  instant  command  a  large  number  of  songs 
and  hymns  which  he  has  committed  to  memory  gradually 
through  the  school  years. 

It  is  unnecessary  in  this  connection  to  discuss  the  work 
done  in  gymnastics  and  with  the  needle.  Thus  far  in  the 
study  of  the  Prussian  course  of  study  I  have  followed  Profes- 
sor Levi  Seeley.     (35) 

Again  some  one  will  ask,  "  Is  there  really  such  a  great 
difference  as  is  usually  claimed  there  is  between  this  course  of 
study  and  that  which  is  in  vogue  in  our  American  rural 
school  ?  "  In  order  to  establish  the  substantial  correctness  of 
this  contention,  it  will  be  necessary  to  turn  at  once  to  a  study 
of  the  work  of  the  two  schools  as  judged  from  the  character 
of  the  output.  This  is  not  easy,  as  requisites  for  success  in 
Germany  are  not  necessarily  the  same  as  in  America.  But 
there  are  lines  of  approach  that  are  promising  and  suggestive. 
The  mental  ability  and  culture  equipment  of  children  at  any 
given  age  is  certainly  a  fair  criterion. 

It  is  claimed  by  those  who  have  gone  into  the  matter  with 
great  care  that  the  German  child  is  about  three  years  ahead 
of  the  American  child  in  the  same  general  class  of  school.  (36) 


34        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL    IN    THE   UNITED  STATES 

This  is  the  same  as  to  say  that  from  the  general  standpoint  of 
mental  power  and  mental  equipment  the  German  child  at  14, 
*vhen  he  completes  the  course  of  study  in  the  Volkschule,  is  as 
far  on  and  as  ready  to  take  up  arms  for  the  battle  of  life  as  the 
American  child  is  after  he  has  gone  through  the  primary,  gram- 
mar, and  from  two  to  three  years  of  the  high  school  course, 
when  he  would  be  16  or  17  years  of  age.  This  is  a  serious 
charge  of  educational  inefficiency  laid  against  our  common 
school  ;  and  these  charges  deserve  the  most  careful  investiga- 
tion, for  they  have  been  made  not  by  enemies  of  our  school  or 
our  people,  but  by  educational  experts.  What  explanations, 
therefore,  can  be  given  for  the  existence  of  such  pronounced 
differences  of  achievement  in  the  two  educational  systems  ? 

A  number  have  been  suggested  and  these  should  be  taken 
up  in  order.  It  has  been  pointed  out  ( i )  that  the  difficult 
orthography  of  the  English  language  is  a  great  handicap  to 
the  American  child  ;  (2)  that  there  is  great  waste  incident  to 
our  intricate  system  of  measures  for  weights,  value,  distances, 
areas,  solids,  liquids  ;  (3)  that  our  much  shorter  school  year 
is  a  factor  of  considerable  importance  ;  (4)  that  the  American 
teacher  is  comparatively  inefficient  because  of  a  lack  of  gener- 
ally high  professional  training  and  accurate  scholarship.  (36) 
To  these  should  be  added  other  auxiliary  causes,  as  (5)  the 
indefiniteness  and  incoherency  of  our  course  of  study,  and  (6) 
the  substitution  in  the  American  school  of  the  text-book  for 
the  living  teacher,  a  procedure  due  in  part  to  cause,  (4)  above, 
and  also,  no  doubt  to  our  endeavor,  often  quite  unconscious, 
to  throw  the  child  upon  his  own  resources  at  an  early  age. 
The  dread  of  incompleteness,  too  has  doubtless  contributed  to 
our  attitude  of  reliance  upon  the  text-book  rather  than  upon 
the  teacher. 

That  the  mastery  of  our  orthography  is  a  difficult  under- 
taking there  is  no  doubt.  Dr.  L.  R.  Klemm  declares  that  if 
by  any  means  our  orthography  were  simplified  to  the  same  ex« 
tent  as  the  German  orthography  has  been  simplified,  it- would 
be  a  saving  of  one  year  to  ever)'^  child  in  our  country.  (36) 
Comparatively  little  time  is  taken  for  it  in  Germany,  and  yet 
spelling  reaches  a  degree  of  perfection  which  is  not  even  ex- 
pected in  our  country.  The  time  saved  in  this  way  in  Ger- 
many is  devoted  to  history  and  literature.  The  studies  of  Dr. 
J.  M.  Rice  have  shown  that  much  time  is  wasted  in  our  futile 
attempt  in  America  to  attain  perfection  in  orthography.  Ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Rice  schools  devoting  forty  minutes  a  day  to 
the  subject  of  spelling  produce  no  better  spellers  than  other 
schools  in  which  fifteen  minutes  is  the  time  allotment.  He 
further  contends  that  the  results  are  largely  if  not  wholly  in- 
dependent of  the  particular  method  adopted  in  a  given  school. 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES        35 

(37)  Dr.  O.  P.  Cornman,  of  Philadelphia  North  East  School, 
made  similar  studies  and  reached  practically  the  same  results. 

(38) 

Another  time-saving  element  in  the  German  system  is  the 
slight  demand  made  upon  the  memory  in  acquiring  the  facts 
necessary  for  denominate  calculations.  There  are  but  ten 
words  to  learn  in  Germany  or  France  in  all  of  his  mensura- 
tion tables,  and  if  the  student  has  thoroughly  learned  these  in 
all  their  mutual  relations  he  is  as  well  equipped  as  our  Ameri- 
can child  after  his  laborious  attempts  and  re-attempts  to  mas- 
ter our  intricate  tables  of  weight  and  measures.  These  ten 
words  are  the  Greek  kilo^  hedo,  deka  ;  the  Latin  deci,  centi,  and 
milli ;  and  four  metrical  names,  viz.,  metre,  are,  liter,  and 
gramme.  (39) 

The  longer  school  year  is  named  rightly  as  a  cause  con- 
tributory to  the  different  results  in  the  two  systems.  Almost 
everywhere  in  Germany  it  is  a  year  of  250  school  days.  In 
America,  the  average  for  the  whole  country  is  a  school  year  of 
145  days,  and  in  the  North  Atlantic  States  it  is  177.3  days. 
(40)  It  requires  very  little  arithmetic  to  show  one  that  the 
American  teacher  can  not  teach  as  much  in  177.3  days  (much 
less  in  145  days)  as  the  German  teacher  can  in  250  days.  To 
this  must  be  added  another  fact,  viz.,  that  the  attendance  is 
much  more  regular  in  Germany  than  it  is  with  us.  In  our 
country  there  was  in  1900 — '01  an  average  attendance  of  70.4 
days  for  every  child  5  to  18  years  of  age,  or  98.8  days'  school- 
ing for  each  child  enrolled.  In  the  North  Atlantic  group  of 
states  these  figures  rise  to  90.3  and  128  days  respectively.  (40) 

2.     The  teaching  body. 

Permanency  of  educational  policy,  philosophy,  method, 
the  stability  of  the  teacher's  position,  and  the  large  measure 
of  freedom  he  enjoys  in  the  inner  working  of  his  school  ;  his 
accountability  to  men  of  thorough  educational  and  professional 
training  ;  the  thorough  preparation  the  young  teacher  has  re- 
ceived both  academically  and  professionally  ;  the  inborn  tend- 
ency of  the  German  mind  to  seek  a  philosophic  basis  for  all  of 
its  operations — its  ever  felt  need  of  a  philosophy  of  educa- 
tion ; — these  are  causal  elements  of  greater  significance  even 
than  the  factors  which  have  been  noticed  above.  It  is  prob- 
able that  every  American  teacher  who  has  really  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  inner  workings  of  the  German  school  would 
agree  with  the  position  that  if  the  German  teacher  had  a 
mother  tongue  with  an  unimproved,  or  an  aphonetic,  orthog- 
raphy, and  the  American  teacher  one  revised  according  to  the 
demands  of  a  most  rigid  phoneticism,  the  children  of  the  for- 
mer would  still  be  farther  along  on  the  highway  of  learning 
than  those  of  the  latter  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years.      And  if 


36        THE   RURAL   SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 

so,  it  is  due  (in  so  far  as  the  previous  analysis  fails  to  reveal 
adequate  causes  of  the  differences  which  it  was  attempted  to 
explain)  to  what  may  be  stated  in  the  following  brief  proposi- 
tion ;  ( I )  the  teacher  is  better  prepared  both  on  the  know- 
ledge and  didactic  side  ;  (2)  the  work  he  is  to  do  is  more  defi- 
nite in  quantity  and  quality  ;  (3)  the  attitude  of  the  teacher 
to  the  whole  educational  problem  and  process  is  different. 

What,  then,  of  the  preparation  of  the  German  teacher  and 
his  attitude  on  the  whole  educational  problem  and  process? 
At  the  end  of  a  three  years'  normal  school  course,  which  every 
new  teacher  now  must  have  had,  or  an  equivalent,  he  receives  an 
appointment  for  a  probationary  period  of  teaching.  The  grades 
given  on  this  preliminary  examination  for  the  two  year  pro- 
bationary period  are  "vortreflQich"  or  "excellent",  "gut"  or 
"good",  and  "genuegend"  or  "satisfactory."  These  marks 
are  given  in  each  subject  of  study,  and  also  in  skill  in  teaching, 
moral  character,  and  fitness  to  teach.  A  candidate  who  has  re- 
ceived "vortrefSich"  may  go  on  to  teach  three  years  with  the 
consent  of  the  proper  authorities  and  the  final  examination 
may  be  held  later  or  even  be  dispensed  with.  (41)  But  the 
teachers  usually  want  to  come  up  for  the  final  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment,  i.e.,  after  two  years  of  probationary  service. 
This  guarantees  them  a  permanent  position  and  makes  them  in 
reality  servants  of  the  state. 

For  the  final  examination  they  appear  before  the  state 
board  of  examiners,  which  consists  of  the  faculty  of  the  near- 
est normal  school,  presided  over  by  a  privy  school  councillor. 
This  is  sometimes  called  the  candidate's  "review  examination. ' ' 
(42)  The  state  desires  to  know  whether  or  not  he  has  been 
traveling  the  road  of  development.  Has  he  developed  skill  in 
the  instruction  process  ?  Has  he  gained  in  mastery  in  the  fund- 
amental branches  of  the  curriculum?  Has  he  branched  out  into 
vital  contact  with  the  masterpieces  of  educational  literature 
Slid  with  current  educational  discussion  in  his  country  ?  Can 
he  plan  a  study,  outline  it,  write  it  up  logically  and  clearlj',  and 
defend  it  skilfully  ?  The  examination  is  set  with  the  purpose 
of  bringing  these  facts  to  the  light  of  day,  and  if  the  candi- 
date can  pass  this  test  he  is  exempt  from  further  test  of  that 
sort,  and  may  settle  down  to  his  work  as  a  servant  of  the  State. 
He  may  with  confidence  expect  to  be  respected,  even  looked 
up  to,  and  not  be  without  honorable  employment.  As  he 
teaches  from  year  to  year  the  consciousness  will  develop  within 
him  that  those  whose  lives  he  is  so  certainly  shaping  to  his  own 
will  and  mind,  will  a  generation  later  be  the  makers  and  en- 
joyers  of  a  somewhat  nobler  civilization.  Seeley  says  :  "The 
German  schoolmaster  loves  the  work  to  which  he  has  devoted 
his  life.     And  that  love  makes  him  as  truly  a  consecrated  and 


THE  RURAL   SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES        37 

self-sacrificing  man  as  if  he  had  devoted  himself  to  the  sacred 
calling,  A  nobler  class  of  men  does  not  exist  on  God's  foot- 
stool than  the  German  school  teachers."   (43) 

The  German  teacher's  preparation,  conscientiousness,  and 
spirit  account  for  the  fact  that  with  so  few  text-books  in  the 
hands  of  his  students  he  accomplishes  such  results  as  he  does 
in  the  schoolroom.  In  Germany  a  text-book  is  never  allowed  to 
come  between  the  teacher  and  the  child  ;  in  America  the 
teacher,  the  child,  and  often  the  superintendent  are  slaves  to 
the  text-book.  The  teacher's  main  task  is  to  interpret  some 
one's  text,  on  a  given  subject,  not  to  develop  the  subject  in  her 
own  original  strong  way. 

The  normal  school  graduate  is  looked  after  during  the  two 
years'  probationary  teaching  by  the  principal  of  the  normal 
school,  and  is  directed  and  assisted  in  the  internal  work  of  the 
school.  Not  only  so,  but  even  after  the  final  examination  the 
principal  keeps  up  his  visits,  and  if  there  should  not  be 
sufficient  signs  of  a  strictly  professional  devotion  to  duty,  or  if 
there  were  signs  of  inadequate  preparation  so  far  as  the  normal 
school  could  supply  it,  he  could  be  directed  to  return  to  the 
normal  school  for  such  further  studies  and  preparation.  Thus 
the  normal  school  keeps  in  the  closest  organic  touch  with  the 
public  school  and  acts  as  an  "impelling,  inspiring,  and  dis- 
ciplinary force."  (44) 

In  a  number  of  important  respects  the  German  rural 
school  master  is  superior  to  our  American  rural  school  teacher. 
He  is  eager  to  meet  his  examiners  for  the  final  state  exami- 
nation and  pass  the  tests  by  them  imposed.  He  has  conscious 
power  and  a  feeling  of  mastery  in  the  several  subjects  of  the 
curriculum.  The  young  inexperienced  teacher,  however  thor- 
oughly he  may  be  prepared  academically  and  pedagogically, 
is  sent  to  the  city  and  town  to  get  his  first  experience.  And 
so  it  results  that  many  of  the  best  teachers  are  to  be  found  in 
the  rural  schools.  There  are  no  such  commonly  recognized 
qualitative  distinctions  as  with  us,  between  the  work  of  the 
rural  and  the  urban  school.  The  normal  school  course  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  and  in  the  western  part  of  the  Empire  the  rural 
are  regarded  as  quite  as  good  as  the  city  schools.   (45) 

The  rural  schools  of  Germany  have  as  much  and  as 
efficient  supervision  as  the  urban  ;  but  neither  have  as  much 
as  our  urban  schools  because  the  German  teacher's  professional 
preparation  and  progressive  spirit  render  supervision  less 
necessary.  (46)  The  same  general  statement  relative  to  the 
preparation  of  teachers,  supervision  and  length  of  term  would 
hold  of  the  schools  in  Austria  and  Switzerland. 

The  superior  preparation  and  the  high  regard  in  which 
teachers  are  held  in  the  community  give  them  a  rational  self- 


38        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 

confidence  which  goes  far  towards  guaranteeing  the  higher 
standard  of  educational  efficiency  there  attained.  Every  man 
likes  to  be  reflected  at  his  full  stature  in  the  eyes  of  his  fellow- 
men,  and  the  proper  degree  of  popular  esteem  is  a  factor  which 
should  not  be  neglected  in  determining  the  causes  and  con- 
ditions of  one's  professional  efficiency. 

The  maturer  age  of  the  German  teacher  before  he  is  put 
in  charge  of  a  school  is  an  item  of  importance  in  any 
attempt  to  estimate  the  efficiency  of  the  two  systems  of 
schools.  It  is  possible  for  an  American  teacher  to  be  put  in 
charge  of  a  school  at  the  age  of  17,  or  7  years  earlier  than  would 
be  legal  in  Germany,  where  the  minimal  age  for  such  appoint- 
ment is  24  years  (47)  The  Pennsylvania  school  law  fixes  the 
minimal  age  at  seventeen  for  graduation  from  a  state  normal 
school.  Some  states  do  not  grant  a  diploma  before  the  age  of 
18.  These  are  probably  fair  examples  of  minimal  age  limita- 
tions in  the  different  states  of  the  American  Republic. 

The  average  age  of  teachers  in  the  country  districts  of 
Pennsylvania  is  25,  or  one  year  beyond  the  minimal  age  re- 
quirement in  schools  of  Prussia.  The  average  age  of  Penn- 
sylvania teachers  in  country  and  urban  districts  is  27  years. 
(48)  The  median  age  of  teachers  in  Germany  is  35.6  ;  of 
France,  38.6  ;  of  the  United  States  it  is  27.2.   (48a) 

In  Germany  it  is  by  no  means  a  generally  accepted  prop- 
osition that  the  urban  is  better  than  the  rural  school,  which 
latter  class  includes  both  ungraded  and  graded  rural  school. 
It  is  recognized  that  there  are  losses  and  gains  in  either  loca- 
tion, city  or  country.  Which  is  the  better  with  teachers 
equally  trained  and  zealous,  and  with  equal  school  equipment  ? 
No  less  an  authority  than  the  Prussian  Privy  Councillor,  Dr. 
K.  Schneider,  wrote  in  1886  in  response  to  an  inquiry  from 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  as  follows  :  "  It  is  an 
undisputed  fact  that  the  ungraded  schools,  manned  as  they  are 
with  well  trained  graduates  of  normal  schools,  accomplish  very 

satisfactory  results Skill,  endurance,  professional 

zeal,  and  last  but  not  least,  the  greater  physical  strength  of 
their  teachers  are  naturally  a  beneficial  influence.  It  is  well 
to  remember,  then,  that  the  graded  city  school  is  not  under  all 
circumstances,  and  hence  should  not  brevi  manu  be  considered 
the  better  school."  (49)  An  American  author  who  visited 
the  Prussian  ' '  crossroad  schools  ' '  about  the  same  time  wrote  : 
' '  I  expected  to  find  in  them  results  such  as  may  be  found  in 
the  schools  of  an  American  back  wood  settlement,  primitive  in 
the  extreme.  But  I  was  greatly  mistaken.  What  I  saw  was 
admirable  work  and  almost  incredible  results."  (49) 

I  quote  further  in  appreciation  of  the  Prussian  common 
school  system,   and  this  time  from  Dr.    R.  Laishley,  who  in 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES      ^Ca,    °^ 

1886  visited  these  schools  as  a  representative  of  the  educational 
department  of  his  home  government  in  New  Zealand.  ' '  "We 
find discipline  established  and  maintained  and  cor- 
rect information  imparted  in  the  most  systematic  mode  pos- 
sible, by  thoroughly  qualified  teachers.  The  consequence  is 
education — not  merely  instruction — is  carried  out  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances,  with  no  thwarting  under-cur- 
rent of  religious  or  local  influences."  (50)  The  same  writer 
points  out  the  superior  disciplinary  value  of  instruction  given 
by  thoroughly  trained  teachers.  It  makes  possible  (i)  a 
wider  range  of  subjects  to  be  taught ;  (2)  a  thorough  mastery 
of  them  ;  (3)  a  more  thorough  digesting  of  the  facts  taught  so 
as  to  secure  better  results  and  a  strict  economy  of  time.  (50) 

Writing  of  the  American  schools,  the  same  authority 
says  :  "  Public  education  in  the  United  States  has  not  arrived 
at  that  condition  which  justifies  its  imitation  as  a  complete 
system."  (51)  He  particularizes  the  following  defects  :  (i) 
too  short  a  school  term  ;  (2)  imperfect  training,  standards  of 
qualifications,  and  appointment  of  teachers ;  (3)  inadequate 
inspection.  These  he  regards  as  conditions  involving  a  high 
rate  of  illiteracy,  incompetent  teaching  in  many  cases,  and  "  a 
very  general  absence  of  that  thoroughness  without  which 
veneer  is  apt  to  take  the  place  of  substance — causes  which,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  if  unamended,  not  only  retard  the  progress  but 
sap  the  core  of  any  nation."  (52)  It  should  be  added  in  fair- 
ness that  this  author  commends  ( i )  our  large  measure  of  ocal 
government  and  school  control ;  (2)  promotion  of  technical 
education  ;  (3)  the  teaching  of  temperance  physiology  ;  (4) 
provisions  as  far  as  they  go  against  the  employment  of  child- 
ren of  school  age.  (51) 

Mr.  Samuel  Smith,  M.  P.,  wrote  to  The  London  Times  in 
March,  1888,  as  follows  :  "  There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  un- 
educated class  (in  Germany).  .  .  .  Nothing  struck  me  more 
than  the  intelligence  of  the  humbler  working  classes.  .  .  . 
The  children  are  not  crammed,  but  are  taught  to  reason  from 
the  earliest  stages.  The  first  object  of  the  teacher  is  to  make 
his  pupils  comprehend  the  meaning  of  everything  they  learn, 
and  to  carry  them  from  stage  to  stage,  so  as  to  keep  up  an  in- 
terest. I  saw  no  signs  of  weariness  or  apathy  among  either 
teachers  or  scholars.  .  .  .  The  instruction  was  through  the 
eye  and  hand  as  well  as  the  ear,  and  question  and  answer  suc- 
ceeded so  sharply  as  to  keep  the  whole  class  on  the  qui  vive. 
The  teachers  are,  as  a  body,  much  better  trained  than  in 
England,  and  seem  to  be  enthusiastic  in  their  calling,  and  the 
school  holds  a  far  higher  position  in  the  social  economy  of  the 
country  than  they  do  with  us."  (53) 


40        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES 

My  last  citation  on  the  character  of  the  German  teacher 
and  German  education  will  be  from  Professor  James  E.  Rus- 
sell :  ' '  The  greatest  service  which  the  German  states  have 
done  for  the  cause  of  education  is  unquestionably  the  creation 
of  a  teaching  profession.  That  first  step  taken  by  Humboldt 
in  1 8 ID,  which  provided  for  the  examination  and  certification 
of  teachers,  was  the  inauguration  of  a  policy  to  which  Prussia 
has  converted  the  civilized  world.  And  as  Prussia  was  the 
first  to  take  her  teachers  into  the  service  of  the  state,  so  she 
has  maintained  her  leadership  in  making  the  profession 
worthy  of  public  honor  and  preferment.  No  other  country 
has  done  so  much  to  dignify  teaching,  and  to  attract  to  it  the 
best  talent  ;  none  has  so  persistently  and  intelligently  pursued 
the  policy  of  making  the  teacher's  position  worthy  of  the  man  ; 
nowhere  else  can  such  teachers  be  found.  Prussia  has  not 
only  created  a  teaching  profession,  but  she  has  trained  up  a 
body  of  men  to  occupy  it  who  are  without  rivals  the  world 
over,  .  .  .  The  Prussian  teacher  generally  speaking  is  a  man 
of  noble  character,  high  ideals,  generous  impulses,  broad  and 
accurate  scholarship  and  technical  skill  ;  he  is  a  gentleman, 
patriot,  and  educator."  (54) 


THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN    THE   UNITED  STATES        41 
CHAPTER    IV. 

THB   RURAL  AS   COMPARED   WITH   THB   CITY  SCHOOL. 

Of  the  whole  public  school  system  in  America,  it  is  the 
city  school  which  best  exemplifies  that  characteristic  upon 
which  I  have  enlarged  in  the  introduction  of  the  study,  viz., 
the  quantitative  emphasis  on  the  material  side.  This  will 
become  quite  apparent  if  between  the  two  schools  a  compar- 
ison is  instituted  in  a  number  of  different  respects.  The  best 
plan,  therefore,  will  be  to  proceed  by  the  seriatim  method,  as 
before. 

1.  Size,  scale  of  architecture,  and  cost  of  buildings. 
Many  of  our  best  city  high  schools  are  educational  palaces, 
surpassing  those  of  any  other  country  in  size,  architecture  and 
cost.  Our  best  city  elementary  school  buildings  are  a  close  sec- 
ond in  comparison  with  those  of  the  high  school.  In  the  sta- 
tistical abstract  of  one  state  superintendent's  report  may  be 
found  this  item  :  ' '  Increase  in  the  number  of  buildings  valued 
above  $40,000, ' '  The  same  abstract  places  the  average  annual 
increase  in  the  value  of  school  buildings  at  $406,  The  same 
state  has  794  school  buildings  valued  at  less  than  ^1,000, 
while  207  of  these  are  valued  at  between  $100  and  $500. 
(55)  These  conditions  are  fairly  typical  of  the  American 
states  except  where  the  movement  for  centralization  has 
gathered  some  momentum.  It  is  very  clear  that  this  increase 
in  the  value  of  school  property  is  for  buildings  in  cities  and 
towns  ;  for  it  would  be  entirely  unnecessary  to  increase  the 
size,  and  poor  economy  to  increase  the  average  expense  of 
rural  school  buildings,  as  most  school  officials  would  think, 
when  these  schools  have  an  enrollment  often  falling  below 
15  students.  This  condition  obtains  in  more  than  half  of  the 
rural  schools  in  all  of  the  central  and  western  states.  (56) 
With  minor  exceptions,  therefore,  rural  school  architecture 
has  remained  unimproved  for  about  a  generation,  while  during 
the  same  period  there  has  been  the  greatest  activity  in  the 
development  and  improvement  of  urban  school  architecture. 

2,  With  apparatus  and  all  that  part  of  the  equipment  which 
has  to  do  directly  with  the  efficiency  of  the  teaching,  the  rural 
school  is,  'Comparatively  speaking,  not  provided  at  all  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases.  One  state  having  1000  school 
buildings  in  cities  and  10,889  school  buildings  in  commissioner 
districts,  reports  an  expenditure  of  $945,867.62  for  apparatus 
to  be  installed  in  the  city  schools,  while  for  the  same  purpose 
in  the  rural  schools  the  expenditure  was  but  $66,540.49. 
School  for  school,  the  expenditure  for  apparatus  in  the  city  is 
154  times  as  great  as  that  for  the  rural  school.  (57)     One  might 


42        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

put  this  building  for  building.  New  York  may  be  taken  as  a 
fair  example,  inasmuch  as  the  regents'  uniform  requirements 
throughout  the  state  would  tend  to  increase  the  demand  for 
apparatus  in  the  rural  districts  of  that  state  more  than  in 
states  where  the  same  centralized  authority  is  not  found.  In 
Indiana  carefully  prepared  lists  exhibit  the  amount  and  kind 
of  apparatus  which  is  deemed  necessary  in  the  high  school 
treatment  of  the  several  sciences  before  such  schools  shall 
think  of  asking  for  state  recognition  and  approval.  But  there 
is  no  suggestion  of  apparatus  for  the  ungraded  country 
school.     (58) 

3.  But  the  student  of  the  American  rural  school  will  go 
on  to  find  that  in  the  matter  of  orientation,  ventilation,  ap- 
pointments, and  comfort  this  school  suffers  in  the  comparison . 
The  doctrine  that  some  exposures  are  to  be  preferred  to  others 
has  not  even  been  heard  of  in  most  rural  communities.  The 
school  is  located  with  its  front  door  towards  the  road  which 
passes  the  school,  or  if  it  is  at  a  country  road-crossing  it  is  lo- 
cated in  one  of  the  angles.  The  sun  may  shine  on  any  side 
or  corner  of  the  school — what  is  the  difference  ?  And  "Bo  there 
come  to  be  as  many  angles  of  exposure  as  there  are  possible 
directions  for  a  country  road  to  take,  or  one  for  each  degree 
of  the  circle.  In  states  where  roads  are  governed  more  by  the 
points  of  the  compass,  there  would  be  more  uniformity  in  the 
orientation  of  rural  schools,  but  not  necessarily  more  conform- 
ity to  the  laws  of  architectural  hygiene.  In  the  city  school 
building  there  will  generally  be  found  some  scientific  method 
of  ventilation,  heating,  sterilizing  water,  closets  constructed 
on  the  most  scientific  principles,  cloak  room  facilities  which 
leave  nothing  to  be  desired,  and  ample  provision  for  exercise 
and  play  indoors  in  case  of  bad  weather.  The  rural  school  is 
without  any  of  these  advantages,  even  down  to  the  item  of 
ventilation  in  which  its  predecessor  so  excelled.  The  rural 
school  "  keeps,"  and  it  may  do  its  work  very  well ;  but  if  so, 
it  does  it  without  any  of  those  appointments  which  have,  in 
these  times  of  unparalled  expansion  in  material  comforts  in 
the  best  homes,  in  ofl&ces,  churches,  cars,  and  in  all  other 
schools,  become  practical  necessities  everywhere  else. 

4.  In  the  next  place  the  course  of  study  invites  a  com- 
parison. In  both  schools  the  spirit  of  enrichment  has  been  at 
work,  but  its  progress  has  been  far  faster  in  the  urban  school. 
It  is  here  that  one  finds  elaborate  outlines  and  manuals  and 
sketches  of  requirements  in  all  the  different  branches  of  the 
school  curriculum.  Without  further  generalization  I  shall  pro- 
ceed to  give  typical  courses  as  a  basis  of  comparison  and  more 
detailed  analysis.  And  first,  then,  to  the  urban,  or  city  school 
course.     The  course  of  study  outlined  for  the  public  schools 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES        43 

of  East  Orange,  New  Jersey,  will  serve  as  the  basis  of  this 
study,  although  facts  will  be  adduced  from  the  courses  of  other 
cities.  East  Orange  is  a  suburb  of  New  York  City,  is  about 
ten  miles  from  Jersey  City,  and  has  a  population  of  21,000 
according  to  the  last  census  report.  Many  school  superinten- 
dents have  placed  at  my  disposal  the  course  of  study  for  their 
respective  places,  but  all  considered,  the  course  mentioned  is 
to  be  preferred.  It  shows  decidedly  elaborate  characteristics. 
It  is  fairly  representative  of  the  best  small  city  schools  to  be 
found  in  America  ;  it  is  so  explicit  and  definite  in  its  directions 
to  the  teachers,  whom  it  was  designed  to  guide  and  direct  ; 
in  the  schoolroom  it  is  seriously  executed,  and  is  not  a  mere 
educational  idea  sent  forth  from  the  superintendent's  office  ; 
the  course  of  study  has  been  substantially  in  vogue  long 
enough  to  test  the  educational  equipment  of  the  child  brought 
up  in  accordance  with  its  requirements  ;  it  is  a  "  strenuous  ' ' 
course  with  no  "soft  snaps"  ;  the  corps  of  teachers  is  a  picked 
one,  almost  all  of  them  have  been  picked  out  by  a  superinten- 
dent who  finds,  chooses,  and  practically  appoints  his  assistants, 
just  as  the  responsible  head  of  a  great  manufacturing  plant  or 
mercantile  establishment  would  do. 


TABLE  III 

Time  table  for  the  first  eight  grades,  East  Orange 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Arithmetic     .    .  200 

250 

250 

250 

250 

200 

200 

200 

Lang,  and  Comp.  75 

100 

100 

130 

190 

240 

240 

240 

History  .... 

160 

160 

160 

Geography     .    . 

100 

150 

200 

160 

160 

160 

Spelling  ....    75 

175 

175 

150 

100 

75 

75 

75 

Reading  ....  450 

350 

350 

300 

200 

120 

120 

120 

Writing   ....    75 

100 

100 

100 

75 

60 

60 

60 

Music 60 

60 

60 

60 

60 

60 

60 

60 

Drawing  ....    60 

60 

60 

60 

80 

80 

80 

80 

Poetry  and 

. 

Science  90 

105 

105 

100 

80 

80 

80 

80 

Calisthenics   .   .    50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

Manual  Training 

40 

40 

40 

40 

Opening  ExerciseSO 

50 

50 

50 

75 

75 

75 

75 

Dismissal    ...    50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

Recess 75 

75 

Totals  per  weekl335     1350      1450      1450      1450      1450       1450      1450 

(59) 

The  first  horizontal  line  of  figures  represents  the  grades 
from  I  to  8.  The  figures  thereunder  represent  the  weekly 
time  allotment  in  minutes  to  the  subject  printed  opposite,  in 
the  particular  grade.  Add  the  figures  in  the  vertical  columns 
to  get  the  time  for  within  school  duties  required  of  each  grade 


44         THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 

each  week.  Add  the  numbers  in  the  horizontal  columns  to  get 
the  weekly  time  requirement  in  each  subject  for  within  school 
work. 

Quite  a  considerable  portion  of  the  work  contemplated  in 
this  program  finds  no  place  in  the  rural  school.  It  is  within 
the  facts  to  say  that  the  work  comprised  under  the  heads  of 
science,  poetry,  calisthenics,  and  manual  training,  representing 
a  weekly  time  total  of  1280  minutes,  is  largely  a /^rra  incognita 
to  the  average  rural  school.  If  this  is  multiplied  by  the  num- 
ber of  weeks  of  actual  teaching,  37.4,  we  shall  have  a  total  of 
47,872  minutes  for  work  which  is  simply  not  attempted  in  the 
rural  schools  of  our  country.  This  exhibits  some  of  the  curri- 
cular  differences  in  a  most  striking  manner,  but  there  are 
other  differences  as  significant.  The  weekly  time  total  devoted 
to  music  and  drawing  is  1040  minutes  in  East  Orange.  Where 
these  subjects  receive  any  attention  in  the  rural  school  cer- 
tainly not  over  one-fourth  of  that  time  is  available  for  such 
work.  The  same  general  statement  would  be  true  of  the  other 
subjects  excepting  that  they  receive  a  larger  proportion  of  time 
than  music  and  drawing.  It  the  typical  city  school  curriculum 
is  the  ideal  for  all  the  children  of  our  country  it  is  quite  clear 
that  the  typical  rural  school  curriculum  exhibits  very  grave 
cultural  gaps. 

In  the  Brookline  schools,  children  may  elect  French ,  i  y% 
hours  per  week,  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  grammar  school 
grades  and  in  the  ninth  year,  Latin  3^  hours  per  week.  Cook- 
ing is  taught  the  girls,  i^  hours  per  week,  in  the  sixth  and 
seventh  years,   (60) 

In  the  educational  use  of  the  great  stories  of  the  race, 
Montclair,  N.  J. ,  is  in  the  front  rank  of  towns.  Considerable 
time  is  devoted  to  this  work  and  the  matter  is  arranged  chron- 
ologically. These  chronological  divisions  increase  in  complex- 
ity as  the  course  advances,  so  that  when  the  student  has  gone 
through  the  nine  grades  of  the  common  school  course  he  may 
be  assumed  to  be  acquainted  with  a  large  part  of  the  race's 
literary  treasures  in  so  far  as  those  treasures  have  taken  shape 
in  the  short  story  or  tale.  The  child,  moreover,  in  such  a 
course  will  have  become  acquainted  with  the  more  obvious 
divisions  or  ages  into  which  literary  history  may  be  appor- 
tioned. The  list  of  references  for  this  well  planned  work  in 
literature  covers  ten  pages  in  the  printed  course  of  study.   (61) 

It  is  provided  in  many  of  our  best  city  schools  that  the 
child  shall,  during  the  progress  of  his  common  school  course, 
come  into  possession  of  a  body  of  positive  moral  teaching. 
This,  as  well  as  the  teaching  of  literature,  marks  a  difference 
between  the  rural  and  the  city  school  course  of  study,  (62) 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES        45 

To  complete  this  survey  of  the  curricular  differences  be- 
tween the  city  and  the  rural  school,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
look  into  the  course  of  study  and  time  allotment  of  some  typi- 
cal rural  schools.  In  one  of  our  large  North  Central  states 
the  following  conditions  obtain.  The  rural  school  is  divided 
into  the  following  divisions  termed  Primary  Form,  Middle 
Form,  and  Upper  Form.  The  weekly  time  allotment  to  the 
different  forms  is  475,  400,  and  575  minutes  respectively.  To 
this  must  be  added  175  minutes  each  week  for  general  exer- 
cises and  recesses.  By  subjects  the  time  allotment  is  as  fol- 
lows :  To  reading,  550  ;  to  arithmetic,  300  ;  to  language,  200  ; 
to  geography,  175  ;  to  spelling,  125  ;  to  history,  100  ;  to  phy- 
siology, 75  ;  to  writing,  100  ;  and  to  opening  exercises,  25 
minutes  per  week.  This  allotment  assumes  a  school  day  of 
six  hours  and  allows  two  recesses  of  15  minutes  each.  If  it 
is  further  assumed  that  there  are  two  classes  in  each  form, 
which  is  probably  too  low  an  estimate,  the  weekly  time  allot- 
ment as  just  given  for  reading,  arithmetic,  language,  spelling, 
and  writing,  must  be  divided  by  six,  for  these  subjects  are 
studied  in  all  of  the  forms.  This  will  give  as  the  weekly  time 
allotment  for  each  class  in  these  subjects  much  smaller  figures, 
viz.  :  Reading,  90  ;  arithmetic,  50  ;  language,  35  ;  spelling, 
20  ;  and  writing,  15  minutes.  If  these  figures  and  those  for 
the  typical  urban  school  are  brought  into  close  juxtaposition 
the  time  allotment  differences  may  be  surveyed  at  a  glance. 


TABLE   IV 

Weekly  time  allotment  in  Country  and  Cit5\ 

W.R.S.  E.O. 

Reading 90 250 

Arithmetic 50 225 

Language 35 160 

Spelling 20 110 

Writing 15 80 

Opening  Exercises 25 62 

Poetry  and  Science ? 90 

Calisthenics ? 50 

Manual  Training ? 20 

This  table  shows  the  amount  of  time  each  class  devotes  to 
the  subject  specified.  The  program  suggested  for  the  Wis- 
consin common  schools  is  drawn  upon  for  the  figures  in  the 
first  column,  the  letters  W.R.S.  signifying  Wisconsin  rural 
schools.   (63) 

To  guard  against  possible  error  in  interpreting  this  table, 
it  should  be  observed  that  the  first  column  indicates  recitation 
minutes,  while  the  East  Orange  figures  represent  the  entire 
time  spent  in  school,  both  in  preparing  and  in  reciting  the 


46        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

several  subjects.  If  it  is  allowed  that  half  of  the  time  indicated 
in  the  second  column  is  used  for  the  preparation  of  the  several 
subjects  specified,  (no  time  being  required  to  prepare  writing), 
it  will  be  found  that  the  time  which  is  devoted  to  the  exclu- 
ive  recitation  of  the  first  five  subjects  is  115  per  cent,  greater 
in  East  Orange  than  it  is  in  the  common  or  rural  schools  of 
Wisconsin.  It  may  be  assumed  that  the  common  schools  of 
Wisconsin,  are  fairly  representative  of  the  best  rural  schools 
of  America,  because  the  settled  policy,  everywhere  manifest 
in  the  North  West,  of  co-ordinating  all  the  parts  of  the  school 
system  so  as  to  leave  no  unbridged  chasms  between  the  pri- 
mary school  and  the  state  university,  would  have  a  tendency 
to  raise  the  level  of  common  school  instruction  throughout  the 
state. 

Closely  related  to  the  course  of  study  is  another  item,  viz  : 

5.  The  length  of  the  school  term.  Exact  figures  exhib- 
iting the  differences  between  the  rural  and  the  urban  school 
term  are  not  easy  to  find.  That  there  is  a  longer  term  in  the 
city  or  graded  school  every  one  knows  ;  exactly  how  much 
longer  for  extensive  areas  of  our  country  has  not  been  ascer- 
tained. To  learn  something  of  what  these  differences  are,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  adopt  a  sort  of  method  of  approximations. 

The  average  term  of  the  city  schools  in  New  York  is  190 
days;  that  of  schools  in  "  commissioner's  districts "  is  175 
days.  This  gives  to  the  city  schools  of  the  state  a  time  ad- 
vantage of  25  days  over  the  common  schools  under  the  com- 
missioners. But  many  of  the  town  schools  are  graded  and 
have  a  longer  term  ;  so  that  the  term  of  the  strictly  rural  or 
ungraded  school  is  certainly  much  less  than  170  days.  The 
average  term  for  the  whole  state  is  177  days.  This  shows 
that  most  of  the  schools  of  the  state  have  a  short  term,  for 
the  term  in  the  commissioner's  districts  is  almost  as  long  as 
the  average  for  the  state,  while  the  average  term  in  the  cities 
rises  to  195  days.  In  1902  there  were  10,690  commissioner's 
districts  and  only  1000  city  school  districts.     (64) 

Still  greater  term  differences  are  to  be  found  in  the  state 
of  Indiana  where  the  schools  are  classified  into  township, 
town  and  city  schools.  The  average  length  of  term  for  the 
state  in  1901  was  140  days;  in  the  townships,  133  days  ;  in 
towns,  145  days  ;  in  cities,  179  days.  This  gives  the  city 
school  in  Indiana  a  term-length  advantage  of  46  days  as  com- 
pared with  the  rural  school.  But  the  significance  of  these 
figures  depends  upon  the  proportion  of  rural  schools  in  the 
state.  In  1901  there  were  10,961  teachers  employed  in  town- 
ship schools  ;  in  town  schools,  i  ,495  teachers  ;  for  the  cities 
the  number  of  teachers  is  3,893.     Assuming  that  the  teachers, 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES        47 

wherever  they  teach,  have  an  equal  number  of  students,  the 
students  having  a  short  term  were  almost  three  times  as  num- 
erous as  those  having  a  long  term.     (65) 

In  1903  Missouri  had  a  rural  school  term  of  126  days  and 
a  term  of  171  days  in  her  cities  and  towns.  This  is  a  differ- 
ence of  45  days.  The  total  enrollment  for  the  rural  schools 
was  402,945,  while  in  the  city  and  town  schools  the  enroll- 
ment was  301,248.     (66) 

South  Carolina  has  some  statistics  on  the  point  in  ques- 
tion. The  average  length  of  term  as  reported  by  the  county 
commissioners  was  104  days,  and  the  average  term  in  districts 
under  local  laws,  174  days.  These  latter  schools  are  the 
schools  which  have  superintendents.  This  makes  a  yearly 
disparity  of  70  days  in  the  schooling  of  248,480  rural  school 
children  within  the  borders  of  one  state.  (67)  The  city 
child  has  70  days  more  schooling  each  year. 

There  are  now  only  two  great  sections  of  our  country  not 
represented  in  these  statistics,  and  I  shall  add  some  facts  from 
states  fairly  representative  of  conditions  in  these  sections,  viz: 
Texas,  of  the  South  Central  States,  and  Colorado  of  the  Western 
States,  Texas  has  an  average  school  term  of  102  days,  and 
Colorado,  one  of  135  days.  These  figures  are  very  close  to 
the  average  school  term,  for  the  whole  section  thus  represent- 
ed. If  the  city  school  term  is  put  at  170  and  180  days,  for  the 
two  sections  respectively,  the  rural  term  of  the  South  Central 
section  will  fall  68  days  short  of  the  term  in  cities  and  towns  ; 
and  the  corresponding  difference  in  the  Western  Section  will 
be  45  days.   (68) 

To  recapitulate,  the  excess  of  the  urban  over  the  rural 
school  term  would  appear  to  be  as  follows  in  the  states  that 
have  been  mentioned :  In  New  York,  25  days  ;  in  Indiana, 
46  ;  in  Missouri  45  ;  in  South  Carolina,  70  ;  in  Colorado,  45  ; 
and  in  Texas,  68  days.  These  figures  may  be  left  to  speak 
their  own  message.  They  require  no  further  comment.  They 
have  served  their  purpose  if  they  have  shown  in  a  somewhat 
definite  way  this  one  d  ifference  between  the  rural  and  the 
city  school  of  our  day — the  much  longer  term  enjoyed  by  stu- 
dents in  schools  of  the  latter  class. 

6.  The  teacher.  There  is  a  marked  difference  between 
the  teaching  staff  for  our  country  schools  and  that  required 
for  the  city  schools.  On  this  point  it  is  as  difl&cult  to  find  data 
giving  the  conditions  in  large  areas  of  our  country  as  it  was 
on  the  length  of  the  school  term  in  the  different  kinds  of 
schools.  This  point  is  inadequately  treated  in  most  of  the 
state  school  reports,  and  in  the  reports  of  the  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Education.  The  Committee  of  Twelve  called 
attention  to  the  lack  of  proper  data  on  this  subject,  and  we  may 


48        THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

hope  for  the  gradual  remedy  of  this  defect.  (69)  Certain 
general  observations  have  been  made  and  often  repeated  on  the 
disparity  between  the  urban  and  the  rural  teacher.  E.g.,  the 
number  of  normal  school  graduates  employed  in  rural  schools 
is  "lamentably  small."  (70)  The  higher  salary  and  longer 
term  of  the  city  school  attract  the  normal  school  graduates  in 
large  numbers.  If  they  do  not  secure  an  urban  school  at 
once,  a  year  or  two's  experience  in  the  rural  school  makes 
them  eligible  to  urban  appointment,  and  they  then  go  to  the 
city.  Most  of  the  rural  teachers  are  "young  graduates  from 
the  village  high  school,  some  favorite  among  neighborhood 
families,  or  a  type  of  ancient  teacher  whose  placid  life  is  not 
disturbed  by  the  vexing  problems  of  his  profession. "(70)  A 
large  part  of  the  rural  teachers  possess  no  higher  education  or 
training  than  that  which  they  obtain  in  the  rural  school  itself. 

Some  of  these  differences  may  be  seen  more  clearly  if  one 
first  learns  the  conditions  which  are  suggested  here  and  there 
throughout  the  various  state  reports.  Ab  u7io  disceomnes. 
In  1903  25  per  cent,  of  all  the  teachers  in  the  state  of  New 
Jersey  were  without  experience,  or  had  less  than  one  year's 
experience.  The  average  experience  for  the  whole  state  is 
five  years  a  ad  six  months.  (71)  The  average  experience 
for  city  teachers  is  seven  years  and  eight  months.  Only  18 
per  cent,  of  the  city  teachers  have  had  less  than  one  year's  ex- 
perience. (72)  Since  the  first  series  includes  the  second,  it 
is  very  clear  that  the  inexperience  is  to  be  encountered  mainly 
in  the  rural  districts.  Here  are  to  be  found  the  young  teach- 
ers, the  beginners,  the  comparatively  ill  prepared  of  the  pro- 
fession. There  are  806  inexperienced  teachers  employed  in 
this  state  every  year.  (73)  The  state  normal  school  gradu- 
ated a  class  of  219  in  1902.  If  all  these  were  employed  in  the 
state  it  would  still  fall  almost  600  short  of  the  demand  for 
new  teachers  each  year.  This  600  will  represent  those  who 
come  chiefly  from  the  small  high  school  and  the  ungraded 
country  school. 

In  New  York  the  conditions  are  much  the  same.  Of  the 
36,000  teachers  employed,  less  than  7,000  are  normal  school 
graduates  ;  1,042  hold  state  certificates  ;  653,  college  graduate 
certificates  ;  7,316,  training  class  and  training  school  certifi- 
cates ;  and  20,106  are  certificated  by  the  commissioners  or 
local  authorities.  This  means  thatnearly  60  per  cent,  of 
all  the  teachers  hold  the  lowest  grade  of  certificate.     (74) 

Michigan  employs  about  2000  inexperienced  teachers  each 
year.  To  these  must  be  added  a  considerable  part  of  the 
10,287  applicants  licensed  by  the  county  boards  of  examiners, 
for  many  of  these  are  without  experience,  or  have  had  very 
little  experience.     (75)     This  shows  that  the  conditions  are 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES        49 

about  the  same  in  Michigan  as  in  New  Jersey  and  New  York. 

In  Maine  i,ooo  of  the  total  corps  of  less  than  7000 
teachers  begin  their  work  each  year  without  experience.  Only 
1,587  are  graduates  of  a  normal  school.     (76) 

Of  Iowa's  army  of  nearly  30,000  teachers,  6,866  were 
licensed  without  previous  experience,  or  with  less  than  one 
year's  experience.   (77) 

Missouri  reports  that  less  than  5  per  cent,  of  her  teachers 
hold  state  normal  school  certificates  ;  5  per  cent,  hold  state 
certificates  ;  and  90  per  cent  are  certificated  by  local  authori- 
ties.   (78) 

Of  Pennsylvania's  30,000  teachers  over  4,000  have  had 
no  experience.  Of  these  4,065,  only  791  are  found  in  city 
schools,  although  one  third  of  the  schools  of  the  state  are 
classed  as  "city  schools."  Nearly  one-half  of  the  teachers  of 
the  state  hold  the  provisional  certificate,  the  lowest  grade  of 
local  certificate  issued.  (79)  There  are  7,490  state  normal 
school  graduates  employed,  of  whom  5,930  are  not  teaching 
in  city  schools.  (80)  This  is  a  better  showing  for  normal 
school  influence  in  rural  communities  than  is  usual  in  states 
whose  school  reports  have  been  available  during  this  study. 

But  to  the  lack  of  experience,  of  academical  and  profes- 
sional training  in  teachers,  must  be  added  the  low  salaries 
usually  paid  in  the  rural  schools.  Early  in  the  last  century  the 
general  thought  seemed  to  be  that  ' '  anybody  can  teach 
school."  This  theory  was  soon  discredited  in  the  best  cities 
and  towns  of  our  country,  but  it  is  the  working  hypothesis  of 
far  too  many  rural  schoolboards  and  local  authorities.  This 
means  that  it  is  also  the  working  hypothesis  of  the  country 
people,  for  they  create  the  local  boards  and  authorities.  A 
few  facts  on  the  salary  question  will  sufiice. 

The  average  annual  salary  in  the  rural  schools  of  Mis- 
souri is  $195.70  ;  in  the  cities  and  towns  it  rises  to  $488.30. 
(81)  In  Michigan  the  average  monthly  salary  for  male 
teachers  in  ungraded  schools  is  $29.45  >  i^  graded  schools  it  is 
$84.76  The  corresponding  figures  for  female  teachers  are 
$26.99  and  $45.94.  (82)  In  Wisconsin  the  average  monthly 
salary  for  women  in  the  ungraded  schools  is  $33.19;  for  men, 
$50.93.  For  city  schools  it  is  $43.78  for  women,  and  $97.62 
for  males,  counting  the  city  school  term  at  nine  and  one-half 
months.  (83)  The  Committee  of  Twelve  has  worked  out  a 
table  of  average  monthly  salaries  of  men  and  women  teachers 
in  the  rural  schools  of  thirty-four  of  our  states.  One  ought  to 
keep  the.se  figures  in  view  while  working  over  the  statistical 
tables  of  our  poorly  indexed  state  school  reports. 


50        THE   RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES 

TABLE  V 

Average  monthly  salaries  of  teachers  in  rural  schools.   (84) 

Males  Females  Males  Females 

Alabama $25  .   .  $20  Missouri $40  .   .  $34 

Arkansas   .    .     .    .  33  .    .  30  Montana 60 .   .  45 

California    ....  67  .   .  56  Nebraska 35  .    .  30 

Colorado 50  .   .  45  Nevada 85  .    .  60 

Connecticut    ...  30  ..  30  New  Hampshire.  .  30  .   .  30 

Delaware 35  .   .  33  New  York  ....  37  ..  37 

Illinois 30  .   .  25  Ohio 35  .    .  29 

Indiana.   .   .    >    .   .  40  .    .  35  Pennsylvania.    .   .  42  .    .  33 

Iowa 35  .    .  30  Rhode  Island  ...  40  .    .  36 

Kansas 40  .    .  32  South  Carolina  .   .  30  .   .  27 

Kentucky   .    .     .    .  36  .    .  34  South  Dakota..  .   .  36  .   .  31 

Louisiana   .   .    .   .  40  .   .  33  Utah 53  .   .  37 

Maine 35  .    .  22  Vermont 39  .   .  27 

Maryland   .   .     .    .  29  .   .  29  Virginia 28  .   .  25 

Massachusetts.      .  32  .    .  26  West  Virginia  .   .  36  .   .  36 

Michigan 29  .   .  25  Wisconsin    ....    46  .    .  30 

Minnesota   ....  40  .    .  31  Wyoming 45  .    .  40 

7.  The  per  capita  cost.  In  this  item  the  rural  and  the 
urban  school  differ  as  much  as  in  the  other  respects  in  which 
comparisons  have  been  made.  The  total  per  capita  cost  for 
the  ungraded  schools  of  Michigan  is  $11.79,  based  on  the  en- 
rollment, while  that  of  the  graded  schools  is  $21.03,  almost 
double,  (85)  For  New  York  the  corresponding  figures  are 
$18.02  and  $35.44.  (86)  In  Wisconsin  the  figures,  based  on 
the  enrollment,  are  as  follows  :  for  country  schools  not  under 
a  superintendent,  $11.98  ;  in  city  schools,  $19.10.  (87)  If  in 
the  northern  and  central  parts  of  our  country  the  per  capita 
cost  of  education  in  the  cities  is  almost  twice  as  great  as  it  is 
in  the  rural  districts,  the  disproportion  can  only  be  still  greater 
in  the  southern  belt  of  states  where  the  disparity  is  greater  be- 
tween the  urban  and  the  rural  school  term.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  enlarge  upon  this  item,  but  it  is  necessary  to  take  it  into  ac- 
count in  any  study  of  the  rural  school  problem  in  our  country. 

8.  Size  of  the  rural  school.  The  small  enrollment  to  be 
found  in  so  many  of  our  rural  schools,  is  a  great  drawback  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  it  allows  to  each  child  enrolled  a  large 
share  of  the  teacher's  time  and  attention  for  instruction  and 
assistance.  There  can  accrue  to  the  students  of  such  a  school 
none  of  those  advantages  which  are  due  to  emulation,  esprit  du 
corps,  generous  rivalry,  and  the  sharp  attrition  of  mind  on 
mind,  all  factors  of  no  small  moment  in  determining  the  char- 
acter and  benefits  of  the  urban  school.     There  is  nothing  in 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES        51 

the  little  school  to  put  a  pupil  at  his  best,  to  draw  him  out,  to 
challenge  him.  If  possible,  moreover,  the  results  are  worse  for 
the  teacher  than  for  the  child.  If  the  teacher  is  energetic,  en- 
thusiastic, spirited,  even  a  small  school  will  be  inoculated  with 
the  same  qualities.  It  is  the  rarest  of  teachers  that  can  keep 
up  work  at  high  tension  in  an  environment  that  challenges 
her  so  little  as  the  small  rural  school. 

Only  a  few  precise  facts  are  available  on  the  size  of  rural 
schools.  This  is  an  item  on  which  few  of  the  state  reports,  so 
far  as  I  have  examined,  give  any  data.  It  would  seem  that 
such  data  should  be  given  in  these  reports,  because  of  their 
practical  bearing  upon  any  solution  of  the  rural  .school  prob- 
lem. In  1903  Iowa  had  38  schools  with  a  daily  attendance  of 
less  than  5;  424,  with  less  than  10  ;  1,072,  with  less  than  15  ; 
2,009,  with  less  than  20  ;  2,553,  with  less  than  25.  Thus  out 
of  9,487  rural  schools  in  the  state  6,096,  or  65  per  cent,,  have 
an  average  daily  attendance  of  less  than  25  ;  and  3,546,  or  37 
per  cent.,  an  average  daily  attendance  of  less  than  20.  (88) 
Sixty-one  per  cent,  of  the  schools  of  the  state  of  Maine  are 
rural  schools,  and  the  average  enrollment  in  these  is  21.  (89) 
This  means  that  a  large  number  of  the  rural  schools,  as  in 
Iowa,  have  an  average  daily  attendance  much  below  20, 
Michigan,  Indiana,  Missouri,  Nebraska  and  Kansas  exhibit 
like  conditions  of  rural  school  attendance,  which  need  not  be 
set  forth  in  detail  in  this  study.  (90)  It  is  claimed  on  high 
authority  that  three-fourths  of  the  rural  schools  of  Nebraska 
are  too  small  for  a  vigorous  school  life,  having  an  enrollment 
of  from  I  to  20     (91) 

9  Supervision.  When  compared  with  the  city  school, 
the  rural  school  is  sadly  lacking  in  supervision.  Probably  no 
city  in  the  United  States,  and  certainly  no  city  of  any  educa- 
tional prominence,  is  without  its  superintendent,  be  his  ofi&cial 
title  what  it  may.  One  of  the  four  heads  under  which  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  of  Twelve  treats  the  problem  of  the 
rural  school,  is  supervision.  This  report  points  out  that  com- 
petent supervision  has  been  one  of  the  most  effective  means  of 
improving  the  public  schools,  and  then  asserts  that  it  has  been 
enjoyed  by  the  city  schools  alone  ;  the  rural  school  has  been 
almost  entirely  untouched  by  the  hand  of  the  skilled  super- 
visor. Only  a  few  places  inspired  by  an  urban  environment 
have  brought  their  schools  under  trained  supervision.  These 
are  forthwith  to  be  classed  as  exceptional  places.  The  greater 
number  of  the  rural  schools  are  left  to  their  own  devices,  and 
to  the  youth,  inexperience,  and  limited  knowledge  of  the  rural 
teacher.  Some  states  provide  manuals  exhibiting  in  detail  the 
course  of  study,  making  suggestions  for  the  order  and  time 
allotment  for  the  different    subjects.     In   other  states  there 


52        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 

would  seem  to  be  nothing  but  the  school  law  to  outline  the 
course  that  must  be  taught  in  order  that  the  school  may  be  a 
legal  one,  and  therefore  entitled  to  its  portion  of  the  state 
school  funds  or  annual  appropriation. 

Thus  the  very  schools  and  teachers  that  need  supervision 
most  have  it  least.  From  the  beginning  of  the  industrial  era 
down  to  the  present  day,  the  importance  of  superintendence 
for  every  large  industrial  establishment  has  steadily  increased. 
(92)  To-day,  as  in  1850,  expert  supervision  is  taken  as  a 
matter  of  course  in  every  manufactory,  howsoever  skilled  the 
individual  laborers  may  be. 

If  supervision  is  so  necessary  in  great  business  under- 
takings, lest  material  wealth  placed  in  industrial  enterprises 
should  prove  profitless  and  the  welfare  of  the  country  be 
imperiled,  how  much  more  is  it  necessary  in  education  under 
present  conditions,  when  it  is  not  possible  to  secure  at  once  a 
supply  of  properly  educated  and  trained  teachers?  Is  not  the 
intellectual  and  moral  welfare  of  the  rising  generation,  which 
depends  more  or  less  upon  the  efl&ciency  of  present-day  school 
instruction,  as  important  as  the  material  prosperity  of  those 
who  are  old  enough  to  be  influenced  by  ' '  the  effective  desire 
of  accumulation  "  ?  ,  Of  course  the  spirit  in  which  the  school 
supervisor  works  is  not  necessarily  the  same  as  that  of  the 
entrepreneur ;  for  the  latter  has  only  too  often  assumed  the 
attitude  of  a  task-master.  In  either  case  the  prime  object  is, 
to  be  sure,  to  increase  the  quantity  and  improve  the  quality  of 
the  work ;  but  the  school  has  already  learned  that  the  best 
way  to  achieve  this  is  to  improve  the  teacher  herself.  If  the 
superintendent  can  sharpen  her  intelligence,  stimulate  her  to 
undertake  the  right  sort  of  reading,  both  general  and  profes- 
sional, raise  her  ideal  of  her  profession,  and  cause  her  to  know 
more  JFully  the  child  and  the  laws  of  his  growth,  bodily,  men- 
tally, morally,  he  will  at  the  same  time  work  improvement  in 
his  school.  With  these  facts  in  mind,  one  can  see  the  reason- 
ableness of  such  a  sweeping  statement  as  that  made  by  the 
Committee  of  Twelve.  "There  is  no  other  agency  in  our 
school  system  that  has  done  so  much  for  the  improvement  of 
our  schools  in  organization,  and  in  methods  of  instruction  and 
discipline,  as  the  superintendency. "  And  again:  "The 
most  competent  superintendents  have  ]the  best  schools,  and  the 
cities  noted  for  their  excellence  in  school  work  have  attained 
this  pre-eminence  through  the  medium  of  intelligent  super- 
vision."    (93) 

The  annual  or  semiannual  visit  of  a  county  superinten- 
dent or  school  commissioner  is  scarcely  to  be  styled  super- 
vision, any  more  than  the  occasional  visit  of  some  large  stock- 
holder to  the  seat  of  an  industry  in  which  he  is  interested  is 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED   STATES        53 

entitled  to  such  rank.  If  a  teacher's  position  and  salary- 
depended  upon  the  reports  of  such  visits,  they  might  be  termed 
inspection,  but  never  supervision,  unless  one  is  willing  to 
court  criticism  for  his  use  of  terms.  In  England,  our  county 
superintendents  would  be  called  school  inspectors,  at  least  so 
far  as  their  duties  of  school  visitations  are  concerned  ;  and  the 
professional  welfare  of  the  teachers  would  depend  much  more 
upon  the  character  of  the  reports  submitted  b}'  these  officials 
than  is  the  case  with  us. 

The  present  situation  for  rural  school  supervision  may  be 
judged  from  the  conditions  that  obtain  in  one  of  our  large  and 
wealthy  states.  In  some  counties  of  Pennsylvania  it  is  im- 
possible for  the  county  superintendent  to  visit  the  schools 
oftener  than  once  in  two  years.  They  are  seldom  lengthy 
visits,  so  that  the  relations  set  up  between  superintendent  and 
teacher  and  pupil  cannot  be  very  intimate,  life-giving,  or  in- 
spirational. There  are  in  Pennsylvania  2,545  school  districts, 
viz. ,  cities,  boroughs,  and  townships.  Of  these  66  are  cities 
and  boroughs  with  separate  superintendents.  This  leaves 
2,479  townships.  And  there  are  only  seven  townships  that 
have,  according  to  the  State  Superintendent's  printed  list  of 
superintendents,  supervision  other  than  that  which  can  be 
given  by  the  overtaxed  county  superintendent.     (94) 

Dr.  Andrew  S.  Draper,  Commissioner  of  Education,  New 
York,  affirms  that  the  first  great  need  of  the  ten  thousand 
rural  schools  of  his  state  is  that  of  closer  supervision.  This 
is  needed  even  before  grading  and  larger  enrollments.  He 
says  :  ' '  We  all  agree  that  very  much  of  the  life  of  the  modern 
schools  is  in  the  supervision."  (95)  It  appears  from  this  ad- 
dress that  there  are  113  commissioners  in  the  state,  while  it 
would  require  about  800  officers  to  provide  adequate  super- 
vision for  these  rural  schools.  Besides  all  this  it  must  be  ad- 
ded that  many  of  these  commissioners  are  not  experienced 
teachers  or  school  men.  So  far,  therefore,  as  supervision  is 
concerned,  the  10,000  rural  schools  of  the  state  of  New  York 
must  be  classed  in  the  same  category  as  the  12,000  rural 
schools  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania — they  are  practically  with- 
out that  degree  of  oversight  which  would  anywhere  in  the  in- 
dustrial world  be  termed  superintendence. 


54        THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 
CHAPTER  V. 

THB  RURAL  SCHOOL  OF  TO-DAY  :     AN  INDUCTIVE  STUDY 

The  material  used  in  this  chapter  is  derived  chiefly  from 
the  answers  to  the  questions  which  are  given  below.  These 
answers  came  mostly  from  county  superintendents,  and  offi- 
cials of  corresponding  rank,  although  state  superintendents 
sent  data  in  some  form  or  other  to  most  of  the  questions. 
Often  printed  reports  of  more  or  less  value,  containing 
answers  to  some  of  the  questions,  were  submitted.  Question- 
aire  material  was  received  from  55  county  superintendents  in 
fifteen  states.  In  addition  to  these  a  few  replies  were  receiv- 
ed from  supervisory  ofiicers  of  smaller  districts  than  the 
county.  Over  300  lists  of  questions  were  sent  out.  In  the 
tables  and  discussion  that  follow  58  counties  and  smaller  dis- 
tricts are  represented.  Out  of  some  40  lists  sent  to  officials 
in  the  Southern  states  only  five  were  answered, — one  from 
Texas,  and  two  each  from  Georgia  and  Florida.  The  highest 
percentage  of  returns  were  received  from  Pennsylvania  and 
the  North  Central  states.  The  explanation  of  this  fact  is  not 
far  to  seek.  The  law  of  interest  in  persons  is  somewhat  sim- 
ilar to  the  laws  for  light,  heat,  and  sound  intensities,  which 
vary  inversely  as  the  square  of  the  distance.  In  this  case  it 
is  not  greater  interest,  necessarily,  in  the  problem  as  such. 


QUESTIONAiRE 

QUESTIONS  ON  THE  RURAL  SCHOOL 

Mr.  J.  C.  HOCKENBERRY, 

State  Normal  School,,  California,  Pennsylvania. 

1.  To  what  extent  do  the  rural  schools  of  your  state,  county,  or 
district  have  supervision  ? 

2.  What  proportion  of  your  rural  teachers  have  had  training  in 
schools  of  higher  grade  than  those  in  which  they  teach  ? 

3.  Give  course  of  study  generally  pursued  in  the  rural  schools 
of  your  state,  county,  or  district.  Printed  course  of  study  is  prefer- 
red if  it  exhibits  exactly  what  is  done  by  years  and  recitation  hours. 

4.  What  is  the  method  generally  used  in  teaching  (beginners) 
how  to  read  in  your  rural  schools  V 

5.  What  reading  matter  is  used  in-  your  rural  schools  after  the 
third  school  year  V    Can  you  give  in  detail  ? 

6.  What  work  is  done  in  your  schools  in  literature,  science,  and 
art  ?    Can  you  outline  in  detail  ? 

7.  To  what  extent  are  libraries  established  in  your  rural  schools? 
How  secured,  managed,  etc.? 

8.  Are  there  any  school  collections  of  minerals,  grains,  insects, 
etc.?    How  managed  and  used? 

9.  What  attention  is  paid  to  music,  drawing,  manual  training, 
literary  or  debating  societies  ? 


THE  RURAL   SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED   STATES        55 

10.  What  proportion  of  the  rural  schools  of  your  county  or  dis- 
trict have  a  musical  instrument  ?    what  instrument? 

11.  How  many  of  your  rural  schools  probably  receive  and  study 
the  weather  map  and  report  ? 

12.  What  has  been  done  towards  centralizing  the  rural  schools 
of  your  county  or  district,  with  free  transportation  of  school  child- 
ren? 

13.  Which  has  been  the  more  potent  agency  in  bringing  about 
such  changes,  legislation  or  local  initiative  ? 

14.  Vv^hat  uses  are  made  of  your  rural  school  houses  for  such 
purposes  as  the  Sunday-school,  singing-school.  Grange  meetings, 
preaching,  spelling-bees,  lectures,  Thanksgiving  services,  harvest- 
home  meetings,  neighborhood  meetings,  etc.? 

15.  (a)  What  proportion  of  your  rural  schools  are  in  painted 
houses,  with  window  curtains,  window  plants,  or  pictures  of  value  ? 
(b)  What  part  of  them  have  sodded  grounds,  with  brick,  stone,  or 
gravel  walks,  flower-beds,  banks  of  shrubbery  or  shade  trees  ? 

16.  How  many  township  high  schools  have  resulted  from  cen- 
tralization of  rural  schools  in  your  county  or  district  ? 

17.  What  texts  are  used  in  these  schools  in  arithmetic,  gram- 
mar, spelling,  history?  Are  these  the  choice  of  the  teachers, 
probably  ? 

18.  How  many  parents'  meetings  were  held  last  year  in  the 
rural  schools  of  your  county  or  district  ?  How  largely  attended  ? 
Are  parents  generally  interested  ? 

19.  (a)  What  are  some  of  the  strongest  points  in  present  day 
rural  school  work  ?    (b)    What  some  of  the  weakest  ? 

20.  (a)  How  many  rural  schools  represented  m  your  report  ? 
(b)  How  many  school  children  thus  represented  ? 

If  you  cannot  take  time  to  answer  all  these  questions,  kindly 
answer  such  as  seem  to  be  of  special  interest  or  value,  add  any  matter 
you  like,  not  particularly  mentioned,  and  forward  the  sheets  to  me  at 
your  earliest  convenience. 


56        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL    IN    THE   UNITED  STATES 


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THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES        57 


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THE  RURAL   SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 


Colquitt   .    .    .  Ga. 
Newton    .   .    .  Ga. 
Champaign    .    111. 
Ford,  ....     111. 
McLean     .    .    111. 
Pope    ....   111. 
Vermilion     .    111. 
Delaware     .    Ind. 
Putnam     .    .    Ind. 
Wayne      .    .   Ind. 
Boone    .   .    .    Ind. 
Tippecanoe  .  Ind. 
Dubuque       .    .  la. 
Hamilton  .    .    .la. 
Clay    .    .    .    .    Ky. 
Genesee  .    .  Mich. 
Fillmore    .    Minn. 
Freeborn  .  Minn. 
Morrison  .   Minn. 
Polk  .    .    .    Minn. 
Salem       .    .   N.  J. 
Somerset  .    .  N.  J. 
Camden    .   .  N.  J. 
Hunterdon  .  N.  J. 
Herk,  IC.D.  N.  Y. 
Del.,  IC.D.    N.  Y. 
Steub.  IC.D.  N.Y. 
Buffalo  .    .    .  Neb. 
Gage  ....  Neb. 

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Q.  18 
Parents' 
Meetings 

Held 

Poor 
Poor 

Fair 

Good 
Good 
Good 

None 

Good 

Sometimes 
Very  good 

Good 

Q.  18 

Attendance  at 

Parents' 

Meetings 

Little 
Little 

Little 

Good 
Good 

None 

Little 
Fair 

Fair 

Good 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair 

B  »>  v-- 

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Q.  20 
No.  of  Rural 

Schools 
Represented 

1—' 

Q.  20 

No.  of  Rural 

School 

Children 

1—' 

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THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 


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No.  of  Rural 

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No.  of  Rural 

Schools 
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Not  Good 

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25 

Some 

80  per  ct.  schools 

Only  institutes 

27 

6 

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20 

none 

In  most  schools 

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none 

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Few 

24 

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Otoe  ....  Neb. 
Athens    .    .   .    .  O. 
Beaver    .    .    .  Pa. 
Bucks  ....  Pa. 
Columbia  .   .  Pa. 

Erie Pa. 

Fayette  ...  Pa. 
Green  .     .       .  Pa. 
Juniata   .    .    .  Pa. 
Lebanon  .    .    .  Pa. 
Lycoming   .    .  Pa. 

Somerset   .    '.    Pa. 
Venango    .    .    Pa. 
Washington.    Pa. 
Westm  rel'd  .  Pa. 
Sumter  .    .    .  S.  C. 
Cherokee  .   .  Tex. 
Crawford    .   Wis. 
Dane  ....  Wis. 
Eau  Claire  .  Wis. 
Grant    .    .    .    Wis. 
Waukesha  .   Wis. 

60        THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

Notes  explanatory  of  Table  VI.  The  questions  in  the  table 
are  so  numbered  as  to  corresponding  with  the  numbers  in  the 
list,  "  Q."  standing  for  question.  The  reports  from  New  York 
do  not  give  data  from  the  whole  county,  but  from  the  commis- 
sioner district  indicated  by  the  characters  i  C.  D.,  which 
means  first  commissioner  district  in  the  given  county.  The 
expressions  in  the  column  marked  Q,  4  may  require  a  word  of 
explanation.  W.-word  method  ;  "  Ward  "-ward  method,  the 
method  by  Superintendent  Ward;  S. -sentence  method;  P- 
phonetic  method.  In  column  marked  Q.  i,  C.  S. -county  sup- 
erintendent. The  abbreviations  rendered  necessary  by  the 
exigencies  of  an  over-filled  table  are  supposed  to  be  obvious. 

The  answers  in  column  marked  Q.  13  are  not  so  definite 
as  they  might  be  if  more  space  were  available  for  column 
headings.  The  question  asks  which  is  the  more  powerful 
agency  in  affecting  such  changes  as  are  made  to  improve  the 
rural  school.  Are  they  stimulated  more  by  legislation  of  a 
mandatory  character  or  by  special  appropriations,  or  by  the 
public  opinion  of  the  neighborhood  and  the  consequent  local 
initative  ?  The  tabular  answers  will  be  quite  intelligible  in  the 
light  of  this  word  of  explanation,  although  it  is  not  claimed 
that  the  data  represent  anything  more  than  the  opinion  of  the 
officials  making  the  returns. 

The  nature  of  question  15  is  such  that  it  would  require 
more  than  two  columns  properly  to  present  the  facts  as  they 
ought  to  be  presented  for  a  satisfactory  study  of  the  condition 
of  the  rural  school  building  and  its  grounds.  About  all  that 
the  two  columns  devoted  to  this  item  can  be  expected  to  do  is 
to  establish  how  general  is  a  certain  type  of  rural  schoolhouse 
and  of  school  grounds.  The  data  point  to  a  condition  ;  they 
are  not  supposed  to  represent  very  precise  figures. 

The  intention  of  question  18,  third  column,  is  to  ascertain 
the  interest  parents  take  in  parents'  meetings  when  they  are 
held.  It  would  be  impossible  to  determine  how  generally  the 
same  interpretation  was  put  upon  it  by  the  correspondents. 
But  the  most  marked  discrepancies  occur  in  the  answers  to 
question  20,  both  parts.  E.g.,  Colquitt  Co.,  Ga  ,  reports  3318 
rural  school  children  in  35  rural  schools;  while  Champaign  Co. 
111. ,  reports  3200  children  in  208  rural  schools,  and  Pope  Co. , 
111.,  6000  children  in  66  rural  schools.  This  means  either  that 
the  enrollment  per  school  in  the  first  county  is  96,  and  that  in 
the  two  Illinois  counties  it  is  15  and  91  respectively,  or  that 
there  is  a  discrepancy  in  the  answers.  County  superintend- 
ents are  more  likely  to  know  at  a  glance  how  many  rural 
schools  there  are  in  their  respective  counties  than  how  many 
children  there  are  in  these  same  rural  schools.  Almost  none 
of  the  state  school  reports  which  I  have  examined  give  the 


THE  RURAL   SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES        61 

rural  school  enrollmentas  distinct  from  that  of  the  whole  county. 
If  this  theory  be  accepted  it  explains  the  diflBculty,  at  least  for 
a  number  of  cases.  But  the  fact  still  remains  that  the  rural 
school  enrollment  varies  greatly  in  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, and  even  in  different  parts  of  the  same  state.  The  slight- 
est suspicion  of  a  discrepancy  in  the  answers  makes  the  figures 
of  less  value  than  if  these  represented  exact  facts  and  condi- 
tions. In  the  case  of  the  counties  of  Pennsylvania  the  reports 
may  be  taken  as  exact,  having  been  calculated  carefully  from 
the  State  Superintendent's  Report  from  the  several  counties 
represented  in  the  table,  although  no  rigid  classification  of 
schools  into  rural  and  urban,  or  into  graded  and  ungraded,  is 
attempted  in  the  Pennsylvania  School  Report.  By  counting 
all  the  schools  having  more  than  one  teacher  as  graded,  the  sum 
of  children  enrolled  in  all  other  schools  gives  the  numbers  re- 
ported in  the  columns  for  these  counties.  Greater  definiteness 
in  these  respects  would  render  the  state  reports  far  more  valu- 
able for  the  exact  study  of  school  conditions  in  the  different 
kinds  of  schools. 

Questionaire  material  not  easy  to  present  in  tabular  form 
will  be  given  in  the  exact  language  of  the  correspondent  as  far 
as  practicable.  This  material  comprises  the  answers  to  ques- 
tions 3,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  12,  14,  17  and  19,  or  half  the  entire  list. 

Question  3.  Give  course  of  study  generally  pursued  in  the 
rural  schools  of  your  couyity  or  district.  Printed  course  is  prefer- 
red if  it  exhibits  exactly  what  is  done  by  years  and  recitation 
hours.  The  answers  to  this  question  may  well  be  prefaced 
with  a  table  to  show  what  the  several  states  recommend  or  re- 
quire in  all  schools  in  addition  to  the  Three  R's. 


62 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 


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THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES  63 

This  table  will  serve  only  for  an  introductory  glance,  and 
the  courses  authorized  or  required  in  the  several  states  will 
have  to  be  taken  up  in  order.  Some  additional  data  from 
counties  will  follow.  The  plus  sign  +shows  that  the  subject  is 
mentioned  or  required. 

Georgia.  The  state  school  report  outlines  the  work  re- 
quired in  the  common  schools,  stating  what  text-books  are 
used  throughout  the  state,  and  the  exact  number  of  pages  to 
be  covered  each  year.  The  uniform  text-book  law  requires 
that  books  shall  be  used  at  least  five  years.  Some  optional 
work  is  recommended,  and  a  little  work  is  suggested  in  civics 
and  agriculture.  In  agriculture  these  topics  are  suggested  : 
Soils,  rocks,  minerals,  germination  of  seeds,  varieties  and 
growth  of  trees  ;  habits  and  treatment  of  animals  ;  fruit  trees, 
budding,  grafting ;  insects  of  field,  orchard,  and  garden  ; 
pupils  should  present  models  and  drawings  of  farm  imple- 
ments. For  the  work  in  the  sixth  grade  a  regular  text  is 
named,  while  for  that  of  the  seventh  grade  it  is  planned  that 
experiments  in  physics  and  chemistry  shall  be  made  with  the 
students,  these  experiments  having  as  far  as  possible  a  bear- 
ing upon  agriculture.     (96) 

Illinois.  It  is  planned  that  music,  drawing,  morals  and 
manners  shall  be  taught  in  the  first  and  second  grades  under 
the  heading,  "general  exercises."  In  the  next  six  school 
years  the  general  exercises  comprise  music,  drawing,  morals 
and  manners,  agriculture,  and  household  arts.  Geography  is 
added  in  the  fourth  year,  and  history  in  the  sixth  ;  grammar 
in  the  seventh,  and  civics  in  the  eighth.  In  vocal  music  two 
or  three  songs  are  learned  by  rote  each  month  and  sung  to  a 
musical  accompaniment  where  there  is  an  instrument.  It  is 
taken  for  granted  that  ' '  all  teachers  do  something  in  music. ' ' 
The  course  in  drawing  is  thorough,  definite,  objective,  and 
need  not  be  further  discussed.  Under  the  head  of  morals  and 
manners  very  definite  work  is  contemplated.  Such  topics  as 
courage,  humility  self-respect,  self-control,  prudence,  good 
name,  good  manners,  health,  temperance,  evil  habits,  bad 
language,  evil  speaking,  industry,  economy,  patriotism  and 
civil  duties  are  discussed,  outlined,  and  applied  to  the  prob- 
lems of  daily  life.  Each  topic  of  the  list  gives  rise  to  about 
ten  subtopics.  E.g.,  Civil  Duties. — i.  They  are  a  division 
of  social  duties.  2.  Government  is  necessary.  3.  It  re- 
quires law.  4.  A  good  citizen  obeys  the  law,  5.  He  tries 
to  have  good  laws.  He  aids  the  enforcement  of  law.  7.  Fi- 
delity in  ofl&ce — bribery.     8.     Honor  in  taking  oath—  perjury. 

9.  Duty  involved  in  the   ballot— buying  and  selling  votes. 

10,  Dignity  and  honor  of  citizenship,  etc. 


64        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES 

As  an  illustration  of  the  work  in  agriculture  the  sugges- 
tions for  the  eighth  month  ot  the  sixth  school  year  may  be 
chosen,  i.  Test  the  vitality  of  the  corn  saved  for  planting, 
2.  Start  the  bean  and  make  careful  observations  of  it  for  five 
days.  How  many  toes  has  a  chicken  ?  a  dog  ?  a  horse?  a  pig? 
a  sheep  ?  4.  Will  pigs  eat  ha>  ?  meat  ?  ashes  ?  Write  the 
biography  of  some  successful  stock  breeder  or  feeder  in  your 
neighborhood.  6.  Which  will  eat  more  in  proportion  to  its 
weight,  a  hog  or  a  horse  ?  Which  will  gain  more  in  propor- 
tion to  the  feed  eaten,  a  young  hog  or  an  older  one?  Try  it. 
7.  What  fruits  and  vegetables  are  grown  in  glass  houses  for 
market  ?  8.  Collect  seed  corn  from  at  least  two  farms.  .  .  . 
Plant  on  moistened  sand  between  two  plates  ;  keep  warm  and 
moist,  and  after  seven  days  count  the  number  of  sprouted 
grains,  and  calculate  the  percentage  of  germination.  Plant  a 
few  grains  in  balls  of  cotton  kept  in  a  glass  of  water.  Watch 
growth  of  roots.  9.  Read  L,.  H.  Bailey's  Plant  Breeding. 
10.  Take  an  inventory  of  live  stock,  its  kind,  number,  and 
value  on  the  largest  farm  of  the  school  district  and  on  the  one 
which  you  live.  Some  interesting  definitions  are  given  in  this 
connection.  Vitality — the  power  to  grow  ;  plantlet — a  very 
young  plant ;  cotyledons — the  first  leaf  or  pair  of  leaves  ;  stock — 
horses,  cattle,  sheep,  pigs,  or  other  large  animals  kept  on  the 
farm  ;  biography — the  story  of  a  person's  life  ;  com — in  America 
the  maize,  or  Indian  corn  ;  in  England,  any  grain,  or  crop  ; 
greenhouse — a  glass  house  in  which  flowers  or  vegetables  are 
grown  ;  fruit — to  the  botanist,  any  seed  ;  to  the  horticultural- 
ist,  the  eatable  portion  that  surrounds  the  seed. 

In  household  arts,  or  domestic  economy,  suggestive  topics 
are  mentioned  in  the  course  of  study,  such  as  sewing^  the  kinds 
of  stitches ;  water,  sources  and  kinds,  waste  of  soap  in  hard 
water,  effect  of  ammonia  or  soda  in  water,  use  for  personal 
cleanliness  and  for  laundering,  for  cooking  to  soften  cell  walls 
of  vegetables,  and  for  drinking  purposes.  What  kind  is  safe 
for  drinking  ?  Air,  composition  and  properties.  Uses  of 
thermometer  and  barometer.  Give  illustration  with  such  ap- 
paratus as  is  at  hand.  Food — What  is  food  ?  Show  classes  of 
food  principles  in  milk,  as  cream-fat,  sugar  of  milk,  and  pro- 
tein. The  gluten  of  flour  and  wheat.  Lean  meat  is  protein. 
Cooking  should  aid  digestion,  without  which  food  can  not 
build  up  the  tissues  of  the  body.  Vegetables — different  parts 
of  plants  used  as  foods.  Seeds,  peas,  beans  ;  roots,  carrots, 
turnips  ;  bulbs  :  onions  ;  tubers  :  potatoes  ;  shoots  :  asparagus  ; 
stalks :  celery,  rhubarb  ;  leaves  :  cabbage,  lettuce  ;  flowers  : 
cauliflower  ;  fruit :  cucumber,  tomato.  Value  of  vegetables 
and  fruits  in  the  diet  to  add  certain  acids  and  animal  matters 
to  the  foods.     Bread.     The  history  of  bread  making,  thorough 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE   UNITED   STATES  65 

mixing,  kneading,  raising,  baking.  Have  children  bake  small 
loaves  and  bring  to  school.  Meats.  Kinds  of  animals  supply- 
ing meats;  names  of  meats,  names  and  character  of  different 
cuts ;  cost  and  food  values  of  different  kinds  and  cuts  of 
meats.   (97) 

Kansas.  Several  subjects  are  to  be  taught  only  inciden- 
tally, as  calisthenics,  music,  drawing,  current  events,  and 
ethics.  These  are  to  be  taught  in  connection  with  the  open- 
ing, or  general  exercises,  and  it  is  provided  that  not  over 
fifteen  minutes  are  to  be  taken  for  all  these  exercises  each  day. 
It  is  recommended  that  music  shall  be  taught  once  a  week  in 
connection  with  the  opening  exercises,  and  that  the  teacher 
shall  encourage  the  pupils  to  draw^  and  set  a  good  example 
herself.  No  concrete  material  is  suggested  for  the  work  of 
ethics.   (98) 

Michigan.  The  authorized  course  of  study  for  this  state 
gives  valuable  suggestions  on  the  teaching  of  morals  and  man- 
ners, calisthenics,  and  memory  gems.  "Good  manners  prop- 
erly taught  the  child  react  upon  his  heart  and  produce  a  gen- 
uine desire  to  give  others  no  discomfort."  An  excellent  out- 
line suggests  what  one's  conduct  should  beat  school,  at  home, 
at  the  table,  another's  home,  at  church,  at  entertainments,  at 
the  store,  on  the  street,  and  in  traveling.  Under  calisthenics 
are  indicated  breathing,  development,  relaxing,  foot,  swing- 
ing, bending,  and  movement  exercises  of  an  entirely  practical 
nature  in  the  hands  of  any  teacher  of  average  intelligence  and 
preparation.  The  memory  gems  are  not  a  mixed  jumble,  but 
are  so  chosen  and  arranged  as  to  throw  light  upon  subjects  of 
the  greatest  value  to  the  student.  The  subjects  are  books, 
education,  habits,  perseverence.  kindness,  honesty,  bravery, 
friendship,  patriotism,  miscellaneous,  for  the  little  ones.     (99) 

Ohio  and  Pemisylvania.  These  states  give  no  directions 
on  the  course  of  study  for  the  common  schools  other  than  the 
brief  statement  in  the  school  law  which  names  the  * '  branches ' ' 
of  study  that  must  be  taught  in  all  schools. 

South  Carolina.  Music,  drawing,  and  civics  are  mention- 
ed as  a  part  of  the  course.  Music  is  to  be  given  in  connection 
with  the  opening  exercises.  Civics  is  taught  only  in  the  sixth 
grade.  Drawing  is  avowedly  a  new  study,  but  is  claimed  to 
be  of  great  importance.  Teachers  should  encourage  the  child- 
ren, and  do  the  best  they  can,  even  if  they  know  little  about 
the  subject  themselves.  As  an  entering  wedge  for  the  later 
introduction  of  systematic  work  in  manual  training  it  is  sug- 
gested that  teachers  should  have  the  smaller  children  cut  and 
fold  paper  so  as  to  learn  the  simpler  geometrical  figures,  and 
other  simple  forms,     (too) 


66        THE    RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE   UNITED  STATES 

West  Virginia.  The  only  subjects  in  addition  to  the 
usual  common  school  subjects  are  book-keeping  for  the  ninth 
grade,  civics  for  the  eighth  grade,  and  moral  training  which 
is  provided  for  incidentally.  These  virtues  should  be  exem- 
plified and  established  in  the  lives  of  the  children,  and  their 
corresponding  vices  corrected  by  building  up  inhibiting  ten- 
dencies and  habits. 

VIRTUES.  VICES 

Honesty  Dishonesty 

Truthfulness  Falsity 

Diligence  Idleness 

Politeness  Rudeness 

Regularity  Irregularity 

Obedience  Disobedience 

Purity  Obscenity 

Respect  Disrespect 

Self-control  Lawlessness 

Reverence.  Profanity 

Neatness  Disorder 

Candor  Deceit 

Nature  study  and  observation  are  marked  for  the  first 
three  years,  until  the  sciences  of  geography  and  physiology 
are  introduced.  A  tentative  course  in  agriculture  is  suggest- 
ed, and  it  is  identical  with  that  subject  as  outlined  for  the 
state  of  Illinois.     (loi) 

Further  data  and  comment  from  school  officials. 

Fillmore  Co. ,  Minn.  ' '  The  rural  schools  as  they  now  are 
need  no  course  of  study.  A  competent  teacher  needs  no 
course  of  study  for  these  little  schools  and  an  incompetent  one 
could  not  use  one  if  she  had  it.  " 

Polk  Co.,  Minn.  "  All  the  common  English  branches  are 
taught  in  our  rural  schools."  The  counties  of  Buffalo,  Gage, 
and  Otoe,  Nebraska,  use  the  Illinois  course  of  study. 

Athens  Co.,  O.     "  Have  no  data." 

Bucks,  Greene,  and  Lebanon  counties,  Pa. ,  have  separate 
printed  courses. 

Beaver,  Venango,  and  Westmoreland  counties,  Pa.,  report 
' '  no  course. ' ' 

Columbia  Co. ,  Pa. ,  follows  the  Illinois  course  ' '  strictly. ' ' 

Lycoming  Co. ,  Pa. ,  has  a  course  in  preparation. 

Juniata  and  Somerset  counties,  Pq,.,  use  the  Berkey  course. 
Washington  Co.,  Pa.,  "  we  have  a  course  of  study,  but  it 
is  difficult  to  get  the  teachers  to  follow  it." 

Question  5.  What  reading  matter  is  used  in  your  rural 
schools  after  the  third  school  year  ?     Can  you  answer  in  detail  f 

In  Georgia  a  fourth  and  a  fifth  reader  are  used  in  these 
grades  followed  by  a  text  on  state  history  and  then  one  on 
civil  government.     In  all  these  grades  supplementary  reading 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES        67 

is  "  optional."  (96)  In  Illinois  it  is  provided  that  prescribed 
third,  fourth,  and  fifth  readers  shall  be  used  in  the  fourth, 
fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  school  years.  As  much 
' '  additional  reading  ' '  as  can  be  brought  into  '  *  alliance  ' '  with 
other  subjects  to  enlarge  and  enrich  them,  is  recommended. 
This  can  be  done  in  such  studies  as  history,  geography,  liter- 
ature, and  science.  Some  of  this  material  for  the  fourth  year 
is  :  Hiawatha,  Arabian  Nights,  Alice  in  Wonderland,  Wonder- 
book,  Water  Babies.  In  the  fifth  year :  Legend  of  Sleepy 
Hollow,  Rip  Van  Winkle,  Voyage  to  Lilliput,  King  of  the 
Golden  River,  Tanglewood  Tales,  Pilgrim's  Progress,  A  Dog 
of  Flanders.  In  the  sixth  year  :  Snow-Bound,  Miles  Stand- 
ish,  Story  of  the  Iliad,  McMurry's  William  Tell,  Lays  of 
Ancient  Rome,  Robinson  Crusoe.  In  the  seventh  year  :  Soh- 
rab  and  Rustum,  Lady  of  the  Lake,  Stories  of  King  Arthur's 
Court,  Evangeline,  Birds  and  Bees,  Tales  from  Shakespeare, 
The  Story  of  the  Aeneid.  In  the  eighth  year  :  Vision  of  Sir 
Launfal,  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Address,  Fortune  of  the  Re- 
public, Ivanhoe,  Burke's  American  Orations,  Julius  Caesar 
and  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  the  Bunker  Hill  Orations.     (97) 

In  Iowa  readers  are  to  be  used  as  in  the  case  of  Illinois. 
It  is  suggested  that  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  pages  of  matter 
be  read  each  month  in  the  fourth  year  ;  from  20  to  25  pages, 
each  month  in  the  fifth  year  ;  about  25  pages  per  month  in 
the  sixth  year.  In  the  seventh  year  there  is  a  tendency  to 
place  greater  emphasis  upon  classics  at  the  expense  of  the 
reader.  Hitherto  supplementary  reading  is  urged  but  not 
outlined.  Evangeline,  Miles  Standish,  Sella,  Rab  and  his 
Friends,  Peasant  and  Prince,  and  the  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal 
are  suggested  for  reading  in  the  seventh  year.  The  fifth 
reader  is  continued  into  the  eighth  school  year  and  English 
and  American  classics  are  added,  but  what  ones  are  not  speci- 
fied. It  is  presumable  that  the  eighth  grade  has  the  same 
reading  as  the  seventh,  for  these  two  grades  are  to  recite  to- 
gether. This  plan  would  involve  the  choice  of  new  material 
each  year  or  an  uninteresting  repetition  in  the  eighth  year  of 
all  the  reading  matter  studied  in  the  seventh.  (102) 

In  Kansas  the  work  in  reading  follows  the  reader  plan 
very  strictly.  Appleton's  Readers  are  used,  and  the  work  is 
planned  out  definitely  by  pages  and  months.  Schools  having 
an  eight-months  term  are  to  use  Hiawatha.  In  the  seventh 
month  of  the  fifth  year  the  Miraculous  Pitcher  is  to  be  read. 
In  the  third  month  of  the  seventh  year  The  Great  Stone  Face 
is  to  be  gotten  from  the  school  library  and  read.  (103) 
Michigan  continues  the  use  of  readers  through  the  entire 
eight  grades.  The  ' '  systematic  study  of  classics  may  now  be 
commenced" — in  the  sixth  year.     These  classics,  while  not 


68        THE  RURAL   SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES 

the  same  as  those  named  in  the  Illinois  course  of  study,  are  of 
the  same  character,  and  need  aot  be  given  here.  The  study 
of  classics  should  increase  towards  the  eighth  grade  and  the 
work  in  the  reader  should  decrease.  (104)  In  New  York  the 
reader  plan  is  followed  except  that  in  the  seventh  year  '  'choice 
selections  from  standard  authors ' '  may  be  substituted  for  the 
fifth  reader.  Classic  literature  is  read  in  the  eighth  year.  In 
the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  years  supplementary,  or  much  sup- 
plementary reading  is  a  part  of  the  scheduled  work  in  read- 
ing, but  no  specified  suggestions  are  made  as  to  what  the 
selections  or  classics  shall  be.  (105)  South  Carolma  iollows  the 
reader  plan,  but  adds  supplementary  matter.  In  the  fourth 
year,  Grimme's  Household  Tales,  Wonder  Book,  Scudder's 
Book  of  Legends.  In  the  fifth  year.  King  of  the  Golden 
River,  Selections  from  Longfellow,  Arabian  Nights.  In  the 
sixth  year,  Rab  and  his  Friends,  Christmas  Carol  by  Dickens, 
Robinson  Crusoe,  Hiawatha.  In  the  seventh  year,  Sleepy 
Hollow,  Rip  Van  Winkle,  Tales  from  Shakespeare,  Evange- 
line, Silas  Marner.  In  the  eighth  )^ear,  Selections  from  Holmes, 
Enoch  Arden,  Merchant  of  Venice,  It  should  be  noted 
that  many  of  these  are  condensations  or  otherwise  incomplete 
editions  of  the  works  mentioned,  particularly  the  longer 
works,  as  most  of  them  are  chosen  from  the  Maynard  Series 
or  the  Riverside  Series.   (100) 

Wiesf  Virginia  follows  the  reader  plan,  making  a  good 
deal  of  the  biographies  of  the  authors  whose  writings  are  re- 
presented in  the  selections  contained  in  the  readers.  The  sug- 
gestion is  made  that  in  the  eighth  year  "  shorter  classics, 
such  as  Scott's  Lady  of  the  Lake  should  be  employed  more 
generally."  "  Develop  taste  for  good  literature  and  literary 
taste."  (loi)  In  Wisconsin  the  reader  plan  is  in  vogue  al- 
though the  superior  value  of  literary  wholes,  or  classics,  is 
pointed  out  in  outlining  the  reading  work  for  the  seventh, 
eighth,  and  ninth  school  years.  No  specific  directions  are 
given  as  to  what  classics  should  be  read.  (106)  In  Clay  Co., 
Ky.,  and  the  eastern  counties  generally,  "text-books  only 
are  used."  In  Salem  Co.,  N.  J.,  supplementary  readers  are 
used.  In  Somerset  Co.,  N.  J.,  "little  more  than  the  ordi- 
nary readers  are  used,  I  am  sorry  to  say."  In  Camden  Co., 
N.  J.,  a  committee  of  teachers  working  with  the  county 
superintendent  has  outlined  a  course  in  reading  which  in- 
cludes whole  classics  as  well  as  the  usual  readers.  But  it  is  a 
change  which  can  not  be  made  at  once,  for  besides  the  con- 
servatism of  the  teachers,  there  is  some  difficulty  encountered 
in  inducing  the  district  boards  to  make  the  appropriation 
necessary  to  secure  the  classics.  Gage  Co. ,  Neb. ,  uses  almost 
any  of  the  standard  readers.     In  Beaver  and  Juniata  counties, 


THE   RURAL   SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES        69 

Pa.,  "  very  little  reading  matter  is  used  beyond  the  reading 
texts. ' '  In  Bucks  Co. ,  Pa. ,  supplementary  readers  along  the 
lines  of  nature,  literature,  and  history"  are  used.  "The 
supply  of  supplementary  matter  depends  upon  the  liberality 
of  the  school  board."  In  Columbia  Co.,  Pa.,  Snow-Bound, 
Sketch  Book,  Evangeline,  Hayne's  Speech,  and  Webster's 
Reply  are  mentioned  for  such  work.  In  Lebanon  Co.,  Pa., 
classics  are  read  in  the  upper  grades  only.  In  Lycoming  Co. , 
Pa.,  "  most  schools  use  readers  only.  A  few  use  such  clas- 
sics as  Evangeline  and  Enoch  Arden  in  the  upper  grades." 
Washington  Co.,  Pa.,  reports — "the  only  source  of  supple- 
mentary reading  is  probably  the  small  school  library  to  be 
found  in  most  of  the  rural  schools. ' '  Crawford  Co. ,  Wis. , 
writes — "chiefly  some  standard  reader."  Eau  Claire  Co., 
Wis.,  writes — "  one  set  of  standard  readers  and  some  supple- 
mentary reading  when  one  can  get  it,  in  English  classics." 
Waukesha  Co.,  Wis.,  plans  that  Snow-Bound,  Evangeline, 
Eugene  Field's  Poems,  Miles  Standish,  Enoch  Arden,  and 
many  other  classics  shall  be  read. 


70        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 
CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  OF  TODAY       AN  INDUCTIVB  STUDY 

(Continued.) 

Question  6.      What  work  is  done  in  your  schools  in  litera- 
ture, science,  and  art  ?    This  question  is  partially  answered  in 
connection  with  question  5,  and  also  in  Table  VII,  under  the 
heading  of  "supplementary  reading,"  and  "  art,  "  respective- 
ly.    See   also   the   item    "drawing"  in   the  table  referred  to. 
Little  else  can  be  gotten  out  of   the  answers  to  the  list  of 
questions  that  were  sent  out  in  so  far  as  these  questions  refer 
to  the  subject  of  literature,  properly  so  named.     But  there  is 
one  set  of  returns  that  contained  such  a  systematic  plan  for 
memory  work  in  literature  that  it  may  be  brought  into  the 
study  more  properly  at  this  point  than  at  any  other.     As  the 
plan  provides  for  more  than  memory  work,  and  is  even  termed 
"literature"    in  the  course  of  study,   I  shall  be  warranted  in 
giving  it  in  some  detail.      It  is  quite  an  elaborate  plan  and  has 
involved  some  pains  to  work  it  out.     It  is  divided  into  reading 
to  the  children,  reading  by  the  children,   and  committing  to 
memory  certain  short  poems  and  prose  selections.     Not  a  day 
is  to  pass  without  the  recital  of  some  piece  committed  to  mem- 
ory.    No  day  is  without  attention  to  the  learning  of  some  new 
piece.     It  is  worth  while  to  give  the  names  of   these  memory 
selections  in  full.     For  the  first  year  they  are  :  Mary's  Lamb, 
Watt's  Busy  Bee,    Taylor's  Twinkle,   Twinkle   Little  Star, 
Tennyson's  Little   Birdie,    Keble's  AH   Things  Bright   and 
Beautiful,  Stevenson's  Land  of   Nod,  Miller's  The  Bluebird, 
Blake's  The  Lamb,  America,  by  Smith,  Longfellow's  Snow- 
flakes  (selections),  Shakespeare's  Ariel's  Song,  Field's  Little 
Boy  Blue,  Coleridge's  Answer  to  a  Child's  Question.     For  the 
second   year   the   list  runs ;     Tennyson's  Sweet  and   Low, 
Stevenson's  Where  Go  the  Boats,    Blake's  Piper  and  Child, 
Field's  Japanese  Lullaby,  Longfellow's  Gently  Swinging  to  and 
Fro,  Ingelow's  Seven  Times  One  are  Seven,  Thaxter's  Spring, 
Longfellow's  Daybreak,   Lowell's  The  Fountain,    Browning's 
A  Child's  Thought  of  God,  Shakespeare's  Over  Hill,  Over 
Dale.     In  the  third  year :   Houghton's  Lady  Moon,  Tenny- 
son's Bugle  Song,  Longfellows  Arrow  and  the  Song,  Lowell's 
The  First  Snowfall, Hood's  I  Remember,  Field's  Dutch  Lullaby, 
Tennyson's  Flower  in  the  Crannied  Wall,  Whittier's  Barefoot 
Boy,  Emerson's  Mountain   and  the  Squirrel,  Shakespeare's 
Hark  !  Hark  !  The  Lark.     This  is  as  far   as    the   ungraded 
work  goes  in  this  school  district,  but  this  memory  work  is 
outlined  for  the  whole  remaining  nine  grades  of  the  public 
school  course  in  precisely  the  same  definite,  exact  way.     The 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES        71 

selections  are  as  well  chosen  as  those  which  are  given  above 
for  the  first  three  grades.  They  increase  in  diflBculty  and  may 
increase  in  length.  The  teachers  are  held  responsible  for  re- 
viewing in  each  grade  the  selections  previously  committed. 
This  gives  an  increasing  quantity  of  the  best  literature  to  draw 
upon  and  use  for  the  enrichment  of  every  phase  of  school 
work.  The  average  number  learned  each  year  is  ten,  so  that 
the  entire  course  would  represent  1 20  choice  selections  thor- 
oughly learned  and  held  at  instant  command.  This  is  not 
idealistic,  but  practical,  as  every  one  familiar  with  the  laws 
and  span  of  memory  well  knows.  (107) 


72 


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74        THE   RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 

In  Illinois  there  are  11751  school  districts,  and  all  but  3178 
have  libraries.  They  are  secured  in  part  by  the  directors  from 
school  funds,  and  in  part  by  school  entertainments.  In 
Georgia  there  are  no  public  school  libraries  in  school  districts 
not  under  local  school  laws,  viz ;  In  county  schools,  with 
nearly  51000  volumes  valued  at  over  ,^32000.  "We  have  no 
public  school  funds  for  libraries.  They  are  secured  by  do- 
nations." jKTaw^af  reports  that  "there  is  generally  a  small 
library  in  these  schools."  The  school  law  provides  that 
school  districts  may  vote  a  library  tax  of  ^  mill  to  2  mills 
on  the  dollar,  depending  upon  the  assessed  valuation  of  the  dis- 
trict. This  permissive  law  has  been  in  vogue  since  1876.  There 
is  also  a  traveling  libraries  law  in  this  state,  dating  from  1899, 
and  providing  for  the  establishment  of  a  traveling  libraries 
commission.  According  to  the  regulations  adopted  by  this 
responsible  commission  it  is  possible  for  any  local  library, 
school  district,  reading  club,  literary  society  or  similar  organi- 
zation upon  the  payment  of  a  fee  of  two  dollars  to  obtain  the 
loan  of  a  traveling  library  of  50  books  upon  lines  specified. 
This  lot  of  books  may  be  retained  for  use  six  months,  or 
longer  upon  payment  of  a  renewal  fee  of  25  cent.  The  lot 
may  be  returned  and  another  gotten  as  often  as  is  desired 
upon  payment  of  an  additional  fee  of  two  dollars  to  defray 
charges  for  transmission  to  and  from  the  centre.  In  the  sec- 
ond biennial  report  of  the  Commission  it  is  claimed  that 
the  traveling  library  is  no  longer  an  experiment,  but 
an  established,  growing  instituion  of  the  state.  It 
is  managed  very  economically.  The  appropriation  of  $1000 
per  year  at  first  was  soon  increased  to  $4000  by  a  later  legis- 
lature. At  the  end  of  1902,  the  Commission  had  on  hands 
216  cases,  and  had  in  different  parts  of  the  state,  183  lots  of 
50  books  each,  and  had  over  loooo  books  for  use  in  its  de- 
partment. The  total  circulation  of  the  traveling  libraries  was 
calculated  to  be  51900  in  two  years  on  the  supposition  that 
each  case  has  30  regular  readers.  The  lots  had  been  sent  to  94 
counties,  as  many  as  eight  having  been  sent  to  the  same 
locality.    (108) 

South  Carolina.  "About  400  have  been  established  in  the 
past  six  months."  The  law  providing  that  when  the  friends 
and  patrons  of  a  free  public  school  shall  have  raised  ten  dollars 
by  subscription  for  a  school  library,  the  state  and  the  county 
shall  each  furnish  a  like  amount,  to  be  spent  in  the  purchase  of 
books  for  such  a  library,  was  passed  in  1904.  As  not  more 
than  twelve  schools  in  any  one  county  can  secure  this  aid  in 
one  year,  it  is  to  be  concluded  that  general  interest  is  manifest 
in  the  establishment  of  these  small  school  libraries  in  this 
state.     A  local  company  is  under  bond   to   furnish  the  books 


THE   RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES        75 

for  such  libraries  at  publicly  printed  prices,  so  as  to  avoid  all 
deception  and  extortion.  The  list  of  books  recommended  by 
the  state  board  is  mainly  of  the  standard  type  and  comprises 
some  200  volumes.  These  libraries  are  under  the  control  of 
local  school  boards  who  must  observe  directions  and  regulations 
furnished  by  the  state  board  of  education.     (109) 

Wes^  Virginia  reports  that  ' '  there  are  in  the  public 
school  libraries  of  the  state  a  total  of  38189  volumes — an 
average  of  but  one  book  for  every  nine  children  of  school  age. 
As  the  great  proportion  of  these  books  is  stored  in  the  librar- 
ies of  towns  and  cities,  it  is  plain  that  the  mass  of  rural  school 
pupils  are  absolutely  without  a  book  to  read  outside  of  the 
scanty  supply  of  necessary  text-books.  And  when  it  is  re- 
membered that  the  vast  majority  of  the  pupils  *  *  *  *  are  not 
only  without  libraries  in  school,  but  absolutely  out  of  reach  of 
libraries  of  any  kind,  and  even  out  of  reach  of  book  stores  or 
news  agencies,  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  becomes  ap- 
parent." (no) 

Michigan  reports  that  4,000  out  of  the  7,000  school  dis- 
tricts maintain  libraries. 

Some  of  the  states  have  laws  giving  encouragement  to 
the  school  library.  New  Jersey  has  a  law  providing  that  to 
every  school  raising  $10  for  this  purpose  the  state  shall  give 
$20  when  the  library  is  founded  and  $10  each  year  thereafter 
in  support  of  the  library  if  a  like  amount  is  raised  by  the 
school,  (in)  The  method  generally  pursued  is  to  get  up  an 
entertainment.  If  all  or  a  part  of  this  money  should  be  used 
for  the  purpose  of  scientific  apparatus  the  state  makes  no  ob- 
jections. The  widest  freedom  is  allowed  in  the  selection  of 
the  books  for  the  library.  A  list  is  printed  by  the  state 
board,  but  many  books  are  bought  that  are  not  named  in  this 
list.  The  general  result  of  such  a  law  may  be  easily  seen  in 
the  statistics  of  Table  VIII,  where  it  appears  that  from  75  to  90 
percent. ,  and  above,  of  the  rural  schools  of  this  state  have 
established  school  libraries.  Other  states  having  good  school 
library  laws  have  already  been  named. 

Question  8.  Are  there  any  school  collections  of  minerals^ 
grains,  insects,  etc.  f  How  managed  and  used  f  As  the  build- 
ing up  of  such  collections  by  the  plan  of  co-operation  between 
teacher,  pupil,  and  parent  is  so  valuable  in  arousing  interest 
in  the  ordinary  school  work,  in  reducing  to  a  minimum  the 
difiSculties  of  discipline,  in  arousing  and  fostering  motor 
activities  in  all  the  members  of  the  school,  the  prevalence  of 
such  collections  should  be  investigated  as  one  of  the  criteria 
of  the  rural  school.  The  results  of  this  study  will  not  be  so 
encouraging  as  were  those  concerning  the  use  of  supplemen- 
tary reading  and  rural  school  libraries. 


76        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN    THE   UNITED  STATES 

Of  the  55  counties  in  fourteen  states  from  which  answers 
were  received  sixteen  report  no  collections,  27  counties  report 
collections  in  a  few  schools,  six  contain  no  data,  five  report 
collections  in  few  if  any,  while  one  reports  that  in  40  percent, 
of  the  rural  schools  collections  are  found.  A  few  of  the  more 
significant  answers  may  be  given. 

' '  A  few  have  collections  of  grains  and  insects.  Managed 
by  the  teacher  and  used  in  connection  with  geography, ' ' 
* '  Here  and  there  *  *  *  *  as  the  teacher  may  have  interest. ' ' 
"Not  many."  "Depends  upon  teacher.  Used  as  subjects 
of  compositions."  "  A  few.  Collected  and  cared  for  by 
teacher  and  pupils.  Explained  and  talked  about  in  general 
exercises, "  "  In  a  few  of  the  schools  there  are  fine  collections 
well  displayed  and  generally  used."  "  A  few  made  by  inter- 
ested teachers  and  their  pupils, ' '  One  county  reports  that  a 
few  of  the  schools  had  secured  the  loan  of  some  state  muse- 
ums of  this  character  through  voluntary  local  effort  of  pupils 
and  teacher. 

Question  p.  What  attention  is  paid  to  drawing,  music, 
■manual  training,  literary  or  debating  societies  f  Table  VII  ex- 
hibits what  the  state  contemplates  in  the  authorized  course  of 
study  so  far  as  drawing,  vocal  music,  and  manual  training 
are  concerned.  It  remains  to  state  to  what  extent  literary  or 
debating  societies  are  held  in  the  public  schools.  Some  of  the 
characteristic  replies  from  state  departments  are  :  "  Increase 
in  each  of  these,  but  room  for  great  improvement."  "No 
data  "—  on  these  points  in  a  state  having  nearly  30,000  teach- 
ers. "  Not  so  much  as  should  be  ;  only  in  towns  and  cities." 
The  answers  from  the  counties  may  be  given  thus  : 

Number  of  counties  reporting  on  the  question 56 

"  Do  not  have  either," 23 

"  Have  very  few." 9 

'*  Have  practically  none," 4 

"Have    both  generally," 3 

"  Have  only  in  high  schools,"      3 

"Have   several  literary  societies," 2 

Dodged  the  question, 2 

"  Many  have  literary  societies, " 

" Depends  upon  the  teacher," 

"  A  half  dozen  literary  societies  in  the  county, 

"  In  twenty  districts," 

"  A  number  have  debating  societies," 

"  Some  townships  have  literary  and  debating  societies,"  .   .    . 
"  All  have  literary  ;  not  so  many  have  debating  societies,"  . 

"A  good  many," 

"  Very  few  except  where  normal  trained  teachers  are  in 

charge,"    

Corresponding  data  might  be  given  from  the  townships 
that  have  furnished  answers,  but  these  data  would  not  change 
the  proportions.     If  one  were  willing  to  hazard  a  mere  estimate 


THE  RURAL   SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES        77 

he  would  say  that  probably  ten  per  cent,  of  the  rural  schools 
of  our  more  progressive  states  have  literary  and  debating  soc- 
ieties. This  is  given  only  as  an  estimate,  and  the  purpose  is 
only  to  call  attention  s  harply  to  a  condition  of  affairs  which  is 
altogether  too  common    in  these  schools. 

Questions  lo  an  d  ii  on  the  use  of  a  musical  instrument 
and  the  weather  map  and  report,  respectively,  may  be  passed 
over  very  briefly.  As  a  great  painter  in  planning  a  master 
piece  uses  a  number  of  relatively  simple  and  unimportant  ele- 
ments and  motives  that  he  may  enchance  the  impression  that 
he  seeks  to  make,  so  must  the  student  of  a  school  system  take 
into  account  many  elements  and  features  of  that  system,  no 
matter  how  unimportant  they  may  seem  to  the  layman,  for 
the  final  evaluation  of  that  school  system.  The  rural  school 
is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  Any  proper  evaluation  of  it  as  an 
institution  will  require  that  many  features  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. This  study  is  based  upon  a  very  large  number  of 
these  seemingly  unimportant,  but  really  very  significant,  feat- 
ures. Their  importance  is  evident  if  they  are  taken  in  their 
broad  connections,  and  as  indicating  just  what  the  children  do 
in  a  day,  or  in  any  other  given  time,  in  the  school  or  in 
preparation  for  school.  The  facts  are  to  be  gathered  from  the 
proper  item  in  table  VI. 

Question  12.  What  has  been  done  towards  centralizing  the 
rural  schools  of  your  county  or  district^  with  free  transportation  of 
children  ?  And  Supplementary  Questionaire.  So  far  as  Table 
VI  is  able  to  do  so  it  gives  the  facts  received  in  response  to  the 
first  questionaire.  Table  IX  gives  the  facts  contained  in  the 
answers  to  the  supplementary  questionaire.  This  question- 
aire was  sent  out  only  to  state  superintendents.  Answers 
were  received  from  37  of  the  states.  The  items  upon  which 
it  was  sought  to  gain  information  in  this  latter  list  will  be  in- 
dicated at  once.  "  i .  Have  you  a  state  law  encouraging  the 
consolidation  of  rural  schools  and  permitting  the  transporta- 
tion of  pupils  at  public  expense  ?  2 .  To  what  extent  has  con- 
solidation with  free  transportation  been  adopted  among  the 
rural  schools  of  your  state  ?  3.  In  what  ways  is  consolida- 
tion encouraged,  if  at  all  ?  4.  Is  consolidation  generally  re- 
garded as  a  success?  5.  Which  is  the  more  powerful  means 
of  improving  the  rural  schools,  state  encouragement  in  the 
form  of  special  appropriation,  or  agitation  and  local  initiative?' ' 


78 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 


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THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES        79 

The  answers]to  the  question  concerning  the  existence  of  a 
law  encouraging  consolidation  and  permitting  transportation 
at  public  expense  make  it  entirely  clear  that  there  is  a  wide- 
spread sentiment  in  favor  of  consolidation  as  a  means  of  im- 
proving the  rural  schools  in  parts  of  the  country  adapted  at  all 
thereto.  The  only  conditions  named  anywhere  were  that 
there  should  be  good  roads  and  a  population  not  so  sparse  as 
to  offer  the  barrier  of  distances  that  are  too  great  to  cover  in  a 
reasonably  short  time.  In  Georgia,in  spite  of  her  having  no  law 
giving  encouragement  to  the  plan,  there  are  15  to  20  counties 
now  trying  consolidation  with  great  success  ;  also  six  to 
eight  counties  are  trying  free  transportation.  The  county 
boards  of  education  have  great  power  in  this  state,  and  seem 
to  be  willing  to  take  some  risk  in  experimenting  with  new 
things.  The  Indiana  law  provides  for  the  abandonment  of 
schools  having  an  average  daily  attendance  of  twelve  pupils, 
or  fewer.  According  to  the  general  law,  trustees  are  required 
to  furnish  equal  educational  privileges  to  all  children  in  the 
townships ;  thus  trustees  are  morally  obligated  to  transport 
children  elsewhere.  Iowa  has  a  law  providing  for  the  levy  of 
an  additional  tax  for  the  transportation  of  pupils  where  it  is 
necessary. 

Sometimes  legislation  anticipates  any  wide-spread  senti- 
ment in  favor  of  consolidation,  as  in  Maryland  where  only  a  few 
schools  have  really  consolidated.  Again  both  consolidation 
and  free  transportation  may  become  operative  in  the  more  pro- 
gressive states,  and  parts  of  states,  before  the  law  specifically 
provides  for  such  methods  of  school  administration,  as  in 
Indiana.  The  New  Hampshire  law  provides  that,  not  over  25 
per  cent,  of  the  school  moneys  shall  be  used  for  transportation. 
In  West  Virginia  there  is  a  rapidly  growing  interest  in  the 
problem,  and  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
hopes  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature  to  secure  the  enact- 
ment of  a  law  authorizing  both  consolidation  and  free  trans- 
portation. In  the  State  of  Wyoming,  although  there  is  no 
law  on  the  matter,  several  districts,  supported  in  their  efforts 
at  school  improvement  by  the  State  Superintendent's  broad  in- 
terpretation of  the  existing  law,  are  going  ahead  with  consoli- 
dation and  transportation,  and  are  meeting  with  great  success. 
On  the  point  raised  in  question  two  of  the  latter  list,  it 
may  be  observed  that  only  a  small  percentage  of  the  entire 
number  of  rural  school  districts  have  been  consolidated  ;  but 
on  the  other  hand  the  reports  of  success  when  the  plan  is 
tried,  put  it  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt  that  the  experimental 
stage  is  passed,  and  that  the  next  would  seem  to  be  to  make 
the  plan  as  generally  operative  as  the  conditions  of  roads  and 
density  of  population  will  warrant. 


80        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES 

The  data  on  the  point  raised  in  question  3  bears  upon  the 
manner  and  method  of  encouragement  given  to  the  movement 
for  consolidation  of  rural  school  districts  with  free  transpor- 
tation of  pupils.  The  answers  received  on  this  point  are  of 
the  greatest  interest,  for  this  knowledge  makes  it  possible  to 
predict  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  certainty  what  will  be  the 
condition  of  rural  education  in  the  several  states  until  the 
attitude  of  the  educational  leader  is  changed.  In  general 
there  are  three  fairly  well  marked  attitudes  to  be  found  in  the 
educational  departments  of  the  several  states.  The  first 
attitude  is  that  which,  working  through  the  legislature, 
secures  state  aid  for  the  plan  in  the  form  of  a  special  appro- 
priation to  encourage  consolidation  and  free  transportation. 
Oregon  appropriates  $50  extra  for  three  years  to  each  district 
that  consolidates.  In  Rhode  Island  and  California  districts 
thus  uniting  do  not  receive  extra  allowance  from  the  treasury, 
but  may  continue  to  draw  as  much  money  as  though  not 
consolidated.  This  is  virtually  legislation  favorable  to  the 
plan  of  consolidation.  In  South  Carolina  districts  appropriat- 
ing $100  for  the  purpose  of  such  a  change  receive  $50  from 
the  state,  and  so  on  in  this  proportion  until  the  state's  amount 
is  $300,  the  maximum  amount  thus  appropriated  to  any  con- 
solidated district.  This  law  is  locally  expected  powerfully  to 
stimulate  consolidation  as  the  plan  proves  its  value  in  the  dis- 
tricts where  it  has  been  adopted  and  tried.  The  state  of 
Washington  allows  consolidated  districts  "  2000  additional  at- 
tendance," which  amounts  to  about  $180  a  year  additional  to 
regular  apportionments. 

The  second  attitude  is  that  of  discussion,  and  spreading 
the  news  of  its  advantages  and  benefits  and  latest  adoptions 
in  other  parts  of  the  country  or  the  same  state.  This  is  done 
in  a  number  of  the  states.  The  superintendents  of  public  in- 
struction in  Iowa,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  and  Indi- 
ana have  issued  valuable  studies  in  this  subject,  and  have  sent 
these  in  the  originals  or  in  reprints  all  over  their  respective 
states.  The  result  is  a  rapid  increase  of  sentiment  in  favor  of 
the  movement  in  many  parts  of  these  states.  Other  states 
have  doubtless  done  as  much,  but  the  results  of  such  studies 
and  such  effort  have  not  come  to  my  notice.  The  department 
of  education  in  Georgia  urges  it  upon  the  best  communities. 
"  They  take  pride  in  doing  something  progressive."  Indiana 
reports  that  the  state  superintendent,  county  superintendents, 
and  leading  teachers  in  the  various  counties  co-operate  in  a 
generous  rivalry  to  see  which  can  do  most  to  further  the  plan 
of  consolidation  with  free  transportation  of  pupils.  Oregon 
encourages  it  by  discussion.  Missouri  reports  that  the  state 
and  the  county  superintendents  generally  encourage  the  move- 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  81 

ment.  The  department  in  Vermont  is  active  in  holding  meet- 
ings and  sending  out  circulars  and  letters  encouraging  the 
movement  for  consolidation. 

But  there  is  another  attitude  that  must  be  recorded, —  the 
attitude  of  indifference  on  account  of  (a)  moral  or  intellectual 
inertia,  or  (b)  ignorance  of  the  real  needs  of  the  country 
schools  and  of  the  virtues  of  the  plan  of  consolidation  and  free 
transportation.  Fortunately  this  is  not  in  evidence  in  many 
of  our  departments,  but  it  is  manifest  in  some  of  the  older 
states  where  the  needs  are  great  and  where  without  the  adopt- 
ion of  consolidation  no  plan  seems  to  promise  much  for  the 
early  improvement  of  the  rural  school.  It  seems  a  little  too 
much  to  ask  the  people  of  a  state  to  enlighten  and  convert  the 
heads  of  its  educational  departments  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  the 
general  view  in  America  that  the  enlightening  ray  and  the  con- 
verting unction  should  move  in  the  opposite  direction. 

Only  a  few  words  need  be  said  in  regard  to  the  answers 
to  the  fourth  point  raised  in  the  list,  viz.,  as  to  whether  con- 
solidation and  free  transportation  are  regarded  as  a  success. 
Most  of  the  answers  indicate  that  it  is  an  unqualified  success. 
(See  Table  IX).  These  men  all  observe  its  working  within 
their  own  states  and  express  no  theoretical  opinion,  but  a 
practical  judgment :  As  a  plan  to  improve  the  rural  school  it  is  a 
success.  It  has  not  been  found  "wanting"  in  any  serious 
points.  Others  answer  on  purely  theoretical  grounds.  They 
have  not  tried  it.  They  have  seen  it  in  operation  in  other 
states.  Almost  all  of  these  men  regard  it  as  a  good  theory,  a 
good  plan  to  work  towards.  But  these  men  have  no  practical 
knowledge,  not  even  second-hand,  viz.,  from  the  men  who  are 
making  it  a  success.  The  answers  from  such  sources  are  ot 
little  value.  There  is  another  class  of  men,  cautious,  safely 
conservative,  who  have  seen  it  tried  in  small  areas,  have  watch- 
ed and  studied  it  honestly,  and  give  it  credit  for  all  its  good 
points.  They  recognize  in  it  one  of  the  various  plans  which 
must  be  followed  out  in  the  hope  of  improving  the  rural  school. 
These  men  are  sensible  of  the  drawbacks  ;  of  the  close  calcu- 
lations that  most  farmers  have  to  make  to  come  out  a  little 
ahead  each  year  ;  of  the  barrier  that  is  encountered  in  bad 
roads,  possibly  over  steep  hills ;  and  finally  of  the  obstacles 
imposed  by  the  conditions  of  a  sparsely  settled  district.  As  a 
rule,  these  cautious,  judiciously  minded  men  are  in  favor  of 
the  movement  in  districts  at  all  adapted  to  the  plan. 

The  answers  to  the  last  question  are  interesting  in  more 
ways  than  one.  The  correspondents  use  words  which  are  des- 
tined to  have  a  new  and  richer  meaning  in  public  education, 
and  in  work  for  social  improvement  along  all  lines.  These 
words  are  agitation,  discussion,   co-operation  and  local  initiative. 


82  THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Educational  leadership  is  involved  here,  and  it  would  seem 
that  it  is  more  needed  even  than  higher  salaries,  longer  school 
terms,  better  buildings,  and  better  trained  teachers.  All 
these  improvements  can  come  only  through  agitation,  discus- 
sion, co-operation,  and  local  initiative.  These  will  inevitably 
be  chaotic  without  leadership,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  these 
methods  of  educational  improvement  can  become  rightly  op- 
erative only  with  such  direction  and  modification  as  the  best 
educational  leaders  can  give.  With  leadership  it  would  seem 
to  be  difl&cult  to  place  bounds  to  what  might  be  done  in  rural, 
or  any  other  kind  of  education.  Enlightenment,  encourage- 
ment, and  assistance  will  make  all  sincere  parents  ambitious 
for  their  children  and  for  their  neighborhoods.  To  create  a 
want  is  to  create  the  ingenuity  and  perseverance  which  are 
necessary  to  satisfy  that  want.  "  Wanting"  things  does  not 
mean  "day-dreaming"  about  things.  Many  parents  are 
"  day-dreaming  "  about  the  success  of  their  children,  but  the 
number  who  really  "  want  "  things  for  their  children  is  not 
so  large.  The  young  married  couple  who,  desiring  after  one 
year's  residence  in  a  very  humble  cottage  to  live  in  a  nicer 
house  and  on  a  better  street,  go  to  work  to  gain  that  end, 
teach  us  what  the  word  "  want"  means. 

It  would,  therefore,  appear  that  legislation  can  do  no 
more  than  make  it  possible  for  the  progressive  portion  of  the 
people  to  use  the  institutions  of  the  state  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  their  legitimate  purposes  in  accordance  with  their 
best  thought  upon  the  subject  in  question.  Again  and  again 
in  the  history  of  our  country  have  statutes  become  dead  let- 
ters because  they  lacked  the  support  of  public  opinion  and  the 
active  support  of  the  best  people  of  the  state.  One  of  the 
best  ways  by  which  a  state  can  further  the  interests  of  the 
rural  school  is  to  offer  special  financial  assistance.  This  is 
not  an  injustice  to  the  less  favored  districts.  That  a  district 
should  plan  largely  for  the  young  people  for  whom  it  is  re- 
sponsible and  upon  whom  it  must  depend  in  the  coming  years,^ 
only  means  that  it  has  faith  in  its  young  people,  that  it  ex- 
pects something  of  them,  that  it  believes  in  the  "  gospel  of 
effort"  with  proper  co-operation.  Such  communities  are 
beacon  lights  ;  they  are  cities  set  on  a  hill,  and  their  light 
and  example  shine  out  far  over  the  state  and  the  country  in 
which  they  are  located. 

But  permissive  legislation  is  only  the  beginning  of  the 
problem.  It  is  for  agitation  and  discussion  to  create  the  want 
referred  to  above.  The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  rural 
life  should  be  discussed  ;  how  the  consolidated  school  when 
fully  organized  will  improve  the  conditions  of  rural  life  ;  how 
a  community  that  wants  all  these  improved  conditions  can 
have  them  almost  as  easily  as  a  community  easily  satisfied  can 
have  its  present  meagre  advantages.   (112) 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  83 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  RURAI,  SCHOOI.  OF  TODAY  :    AN  INDUCTIVB  STUDY. 
(Continued) 

Question  14,  What  uses  are  made  of  your  rural  school 
houses  for  such  purposes  as  the  Sunday-school,  Singing -school. 
Grange  meetings,  preaching,  spelling  bees,  lectures,  Thanks- 
giving services,  harvest-home  meetings,  neighborhood  meetings, 
etc?. 

The  data  received  in  response  to  this  inquiry  cannot  be  so 
classified  as  to  be  presented,  to  advantage,  in  tabular  form. 
The  significance  of  these  matters  as  indirect  criteria  of  the  rich- 
ness or  poverty  of  life  in  the  remoter  rural  districts  is  such 
that  the  replies  may  well  be  given  in  the  words  of  the  corre- 
spondents.    First,  therefore,    come  replies  from  several  states. 

Illinois.  "  The  schoolhouse  is  more  and  more  becoming  the  social 
centre  of  the  neighborhood." 

Kansas.  "  May  be  opened  for  any  of  these  purposes.  Largely  used 
in  remote  districts." 

South  Carolina.     "  Freely  used  for  these  purposes." 

West  Virginia.  "  They  can  be  used  for  such  purposes  upon  order  of 
the  board  of  education,  and  they  are  generally  used  for  such  pur- 
poses. 

Replies  from  some  Counties 

Suwannee,  Fla.  "To  some  extent  Sunday-School  is  allowed,  and  oc- 
casionally preaching  permitted." 

Colquitt,  Ga.     "  About  one-half  are  used  for  such  purposes." 

Newton,  Ga.     "Some  half  dozen.,' 

Rabun,  Ga.     "  Pretty  generally." 

Champaign,  111.     "  A  few  are  so  used." 

Ford,  111.  "  Three  Sunday  Schools.  About  one-half  have  one  or  two 
entertaiments  during  the  year." 

McLean,  111.  "  Where  needed  for  such  purposes  use  is  granted. 
Town  hall  or  church  get  most  of  these  here." 

Pope,  111.     "  Some  are  used  for  these  purposes. " 

Vermilion,  111.     "  About  one  in  ten  used  for  such  purposes." 

Boone,  Ind.  "  A  little  for  Sunday-Schools  and  neighborhood  meet- 
ings. 

Delaware,  Ind.  "  Not  much.  One  centralized  school  has  a  yearly 
Thanksgiving  exercise  and  a  dinner.    Some  have  lecture  courses. ' ' 

Putnam,  Ind.     "  Very  little  for  purposes  other  than  school  work. 

Wayne,  Ind.     "  Very  little." 

Hamilton,  la.  "One  would  have  no  trouble  in  procuring  any  of  them 
if  no  more  than  ordinary  use  is  required. 

Clay,    Ky.     "The     schoolhouses  are   frequently  used  for   Sunday- 

:.:.  schools  and  gatherings  '' 

Genesee,  Mich.     "  Seldom  used  for  such  purposes." 

Fillmore,  Minn.  "All  these  things  are  but  arguments  for  the  consolida- 
tion of  our  schools.  In  fact  the  rural  schools  must  continue  to 
deteriorate  until  some  form  of  consolidation  is  brought  about. 


84         THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Freeborn,  Minn.     "  Used  for  these  purposes  to  some  extent." 

Morrison,  Minn.     "  Usually  for  all  of  these." 

Polk,  Minn.  "  Very  few  used  for  any  other  purpose  than  that  for 
which  they  were  intended." 

Camden,  N.J.     "  Practically  none." 

Hunterdon,  N.  J.     "  Not  used  for  such  purposes  to  any  extent." 

Salem,  N.  J.     "  Slight  use." 

Somerset,  N.  J.     "About  one-half  for  Sunday-schools." 

Delaware,  1  C.  D.,  N.  Y.  "  Very  little,  and  only  for  religious  meet- 
ings." 

Herkimer,  1  C.  D.,  New  York.     "  Very  little  for  any  of  these." 

Steuben,  2  C.  D.,  N.  Y.  '•  Large  number  used  for  the  various  meet- 
ings of  the  district." 

Buffalo,  Neb.     "  The  schoolhouse  is  considered  public  property." 

Gage,  Neb.     "  All,  more  or  less  regularly,  for  these  purposes." 

Athens,  O.     "  very  little  except  for  educational  rallies. 

Beaver,  Pa.     "  Many  are  used  for  such  purposes." 

Columbia,  Pa.  "  Sunday-schools  in  about  20.  Spelling  bees  in  every 
district." 

Erie,  Pa.     "  Largely  used  as  centres." 

Lycoming,  Pa.  Some  are  used  for  Sunday-schools  and  church  ser- 
vices where  there  are  no  churches." 

Montgomery,  Pa.     "  I  do  not  believe  one  school  is  so  used." 

Washington,  Pa.,     "  But  very  little." 

Westmoreland,  Pa.     "  Almost  none." 

Sumter,  S.  C.     "  A  few  where  schools  have  been  consolidated." 

Cherokee,  Tex.     "  Generally  used  for  any  or  all  of  these  purposes. 

Eau  Claire,  Wis.  "Most  have  some  one  or  more  of  the  meetings 
mentioned." 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  85 


Question  17,  What,  texts  are  used  in  the  rural  schools  in 
the  subjects  of  i^i')  arithmetic ;  {2)  grammar ;  (3)  spelling; 
(4)  history  f     (5)    Are  they  the  choice  of  the  teachers,  probably  f 

TABLE  X. 

TEXTS  USED  IN    SEVERAL  OP  THE  COMMON  BRANCHES. 


COUNTY  and 
STATE 

Illinois 
Indiana 

Georgia 

Kansas 

South  Carolina 

West  Virginia 

Suwannee ,   . 

Fla. 

Champaign  . 

111. 

Ford  .... 

.  111. 

McLean  .   .   . 

111. 

Pope  .... 

.Ill, 

Vermilion  .    . 

111. 

Allamakee  . 

.  la. 

Hamilton  .  .  la. 
Clay  .  .  .  .  Ky. 
Fillmore  .    Minn. 


Hunterdon  .  N.J. 
Salem  .  .  .  N.J. 
Somerset  .   .  N.J. 

Steuben  2C.D.NY. 
BuflFalo  .  .  .  Neb. 
Otoe  ....  Neb. 
Athens  .  .  O. 
Columbia  .   .    Pa. 


Green  .   .   . 

.   Pa. 

Montgomery 
Venango    . 
Washington 
Dane  .... 

.  Pa. 
.   Pa. 

.  Pa. 

Wis. 

Eau  Claire  . 

Wis. 

Waukesa  .   . 

Wis. 

Remarks  in  response  to  inquiry 


Every  school  board  selects. 

Uniform  in  state.  St.  Bd.  of  Schl.  Bk.  Commis- 
sioners select. 

Uniform  in  state  with  fixed  price.  Chosen  by  St. 
Bd.  of  Ed. 

Uniform  in  state.     Chosen  by  Text-book  Comm. 

Uniform  in  state.   Chosen  by  State  Board  of  Ed. 

County  adoptions. 

1.  Milne;  2.  Metcalf ;  3.  Swinton  &  Reed;  4.  Field 

5. 

1.  Hall ;  2.  Harvey ;  3.  Modern  ;  4.  Montgomery, 

McMaster.  5.  Yes. 
1.  Milne  ;  2.  Maxwell ;  3.  Modern  ;  4.  McMaster; 

5.  No. 
1.  White  ;   Hall  ;  2.  Gowdy,   Reed  &  Kellog ;  3. 

Reed  ;  4.  Montgomery  ;  5.  Yes. 
I.    Werner,   White  ;     2.    Gowdy  ;    3.   Rice  ;  4. 

McMaster  :  5.  Some  are,  and  some  are  pushed  in 

by  the  book  companies. 
1.  Werner :    2.  Mother  Tongue  ;    4.  McMaster ; 

5.  By  county  superintendent. 
1.  White;  2.    Steps  in  English  ;  3.  Progressive  ; 

4.  Barnes'   New.     They  are  uniform  for  the 

county 
Maynard,  Merrill  and  Co.  's  books,  mainly. 
1.  Ray  ;  2.  Harvey :  4.  Eclectic. 
1.  Milne  ;  2.  Metcalf,  Bright ;  3.  Rice ;  4.  Mont- 
gomery ;5. Teachers  have  no  choice  unless  they 

get  it  from  the  schools  from  which  they  come. 
Generally  chosen  upon  advice  of  the  teachers. 
In  some  cases  they  are  so  selected. 
1.  Brooks ;  2-  Hyde  ;  4.  Barnes,  Montgomery ;  5. 

Not  Generally  the  choice  of  the  teachers. 
1.  Milne  :  2.  Reed  &  Kellogg  ;  3.  Rice  ;  4.  Barnes. 
American  Book  Co.'s  publications  largely.5  Yes. 
All  kinds.     5.  Generally,  yes 
Generally  anything  that  the  pupils  bring. 
Teachers  in  about  half  the  districts  influence 

directors. 
The  choice  of  the  directors. 
Generally  selected  by  the  teachers. 
Generally  selected  by  the  teachers. 
Principally  by  the  directors. 
American  Book  Co.,  mainly. 
Ginn  &  Co's.  books  predominate. 
Most  have  texts  quite  up  to  date. 


86  THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Question  I  p.  (a)  What  are  some  of  the  strongest  points 
in  present  aay  school  work?  (d)  What  some  of  the  weakest  ? 
While  it  would  be  possible  to  classify  the  replies  to  this 
inquiry  to  a  certain  extent  it  is  doubtful  if  they  can  be  used 
to  greater  advantage  than  to  present  the  more  significant  ones 
in  the  language  of  the  correspondent.  For  this  purpose  a 
kind  of  table  might  be  used  as  before. 


TABLE  XI. 

POINTS  OF  STRENGTH  AND  OF  WEAKNESS  IN  PRESENT  DAY  SCHOOL 

WORK. 


COUNTY  and  STATE 


Kansas 

South  Carolina 
West  Virginia 


Colquitt  . 
Newton  . 


McLean 


.  111. 
.  Ga. 


111. 


Pope 111. 

Boone  .  .  .  Ind. 
Putnam  .   .    .  Ind. 

Tippecanoe  .  Ind. 
Hamilton  .  Iowa 
Fillmore   .    Minn. 


Polk   .    .     .  Minn. 
Hunterdon  .  N.  J. 


Salem   .   . 
Somerset 


N.J. 

N.J. 


Some  of  the  more  Significant  replies. 


(a)  Mastery  of  essentials.  Reading  and  oral  and 
written  expression,  (b)  Too  wide  a  scope  of 
"enrichment." 

One  of  the  greatest  needs,  awaken,  awaken, 
awaken ! 

(a)  Following  the  course  of  study  outlined  in 
the  manual. 

(b)  Poor  teaching, 
(b)  Lack  of  funds. 

(a)  Classifying  the  work  so  as  not  to  scatter 
effort. 

(b)  Trying  to  cover  too  much  ground.  Not  doing 
thorough  work. 

(b)  Lazy  teachers. 

(a)  Careful  organization.     Close  supervision. 

(b)  Tendency  to  overload  course.  Weak 
teachers. 

(b)  Lack  of  academic  knowledge. 

(b)  Small  schools.    Poor  salaries. 

(a)  An  earnest  body  of  teachers,  (b)  A  short 
school  term. 

(a)  Arithmetic,     (b) .  Language  and  Literature. 

(a)  Arithmetic.    Probably  reading. 

(a)  "The  strongest  point  in  the  rural  school  is 
the  fact  that  the  children  have  work  to  do  out- 
side of  school,  which  fits  them  better  for  life 
than  all  school  and  no  outside  work. ' '  (b)  The 
weakest  point  in  general  is  that  boys  and  girls 
are  not  taught  to  work  with  their  hands. 

(a)  Arithmetic,     (b)  Reading. 

(a)  Trained  teachers  looking  for  light,  kinder- 
garten and  primary  work.  (b)  Too  much 
"system," — artificial  and  mechanical.    Eighth 

grade  and  up. 

(b)  Lack  of  earnest  teachers. 

(a)  Writing  and  language.  Contact  of  good  per- 
sonalities. 

(b)  Reading  and  history.  Lack  Of  professional 
training. 


THE  RURAL    SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  87 

TABLE  XI.,    Continued 


COUNTY  and   STATE 


Buffalo 


.Neb. 


Gage  ....  Neb. 
Bucks  ....  Pa. 
Columbia  .    .    Pa. 


Erie 


3.  Pa. 


Juniata  . 

.Pa 

Lycoming 

.Pa 

Sumter   .   . 
Dane  .    .    . 

S.  C 
.  Wis 

Some  of  the  more  significant  replies 


(b)  The  low  salaries  paid.  A  corn  busker  makes 
from  two  to  four  dollars  a  day  and  board.  A 
maid  of  all  work  commands  six  dollars  a  week 
and  board. 

b)  Irregular  attendance. 

b)  Ignorant  boards. 

a)  Educational  sentiment,  (b)  Lack  of  teach- 
ing force,  frequent   changes,  lack  of  system. 

a)  Our  system  is  thorough  and  the  educational 
spirit  good. 

b)  We  need  more  competent  teachers. 

a)  Universal  interest  in  education.  Desire  to 
eliminate  fads. 

b)  Too  many  studies. 

b)  Failure  to  hold  pupils  imtil  completion  of 
course. 

a)  Tendency  to  centralization,  (b)  Inefficient 
teaching  caused  by  too  little  compensation  to 
insure  ample  preparation. 

b)  Poorly  paid  school  officials  and  teachers, 
b)  Reading. 

a)  Primary  number  work,   (b)  Primary  Reading 
a)  Its    democratic    conditions.       (b)     Parental 
aloofness. 

a)  Increased  efficiency  of  teachers  and  better 
improvements. 

b)  Small  attendance. 


General  Discussion  of  the  Questionaire  Material 

/.     School  Supervision^  and  the  Preparation  of  the  Teacher. 

Of  the  32 1 1 74  rural  school  children  included  in  there- 
turns  to  the  questionaire  only  15058  are  enrolled  in  schools 
having  supervision  other  than  that  of  the  county  superintend- 
ent or  the  county  school  commissioner.  This  is  less  than  one 
child  in  twenty,  or  more  precisely  4.68  per  cent.  In  a  county 
of  twenty  townships  not  one  of  average  size,  quite,  would  be 
entitled  to  such  additional  supervision.  The  significance  of 
supervision  can  be  ascertained,  however,  only  in  the  light  of 
an  entirely  different  set  of  figures,  viz.,  those  giving  data  on 
the  professional  preparation  of  the  rural  school  teacher.  If 
he  were  as  well  prepared  for  his  work  as  the  bachelor  in  di- 
vinity is  for  the  ministry,  the  doctor  of  medicine  for  medicine, 
the  graduate  in  law  for  law,  and  the  doctor  of  philosophy  is 
for  the  academic  career,  then  the  above  figures  would  lose  a 
large  part  of  their  significance.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
teacher  in  the  average  rural  school  is  without  professional 
preparation  and  is  generally  lacking  in  academic  knowledge. 
(See  relevant  parts  of  Table  VI.) 


88  THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Of  the  52  counties  represented  in  Table  VI  five  reported 
that  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  rural  school  teachers  had  been  pre- 
pared wholly  in  the  rural  school.  Six  reported  from  75  to  80 
per  cent,  of  their  teachers  to  be  so  educated.  Eight  reported 
from  4o  to  60  per  cent,  to  be  so  prepared.  Nine  reported  the 
corresponding  figures  to  be  from  20  to  40  per  cent.  Six  re- 
ported these  figures  to  be  from  10  to  20  per  cent  ;  and  twelve, 
that  it  is  5  per  cent.,  or  less,  of  their  teachers  who  are  pre- 
pared wholly  in  the  rural  schools  in  which  they  teach.  Six 
reported  that  all  their  teachers  had  some  training  in  schools  of 
higher  grade.  Assuming  that  the  counties  are  of  equal  popu- 
lation, (to  avoid  endless  multiplication  and  division,)  only  11 
per  cent,  of  the  counties  can  report  that  all  their  teachers  have 
had  training  in  schools  of  higher  grade  than  those  in  which 
they  teach.  But  the  questions  arise  :  Is  this  training  not 
such  as  to  render  supervision  in  addition  to  that  of  the  county 
superintendent  necessary  ?  At  what  sort  of  school  was  this 
"  higher"  training  received?  Was  it  a  year  or  so  in  a  high 
school  ?  Was  it  at  some  private  school,  or  at  a  district  normal 
school  which  continued  for  a  term  of  six  to  ten  weeks  ?  Or 
was  it  at  a  summer  school  of  methods  ?  These  questions 
could  have  been  included  in  the  list  if  there  were  no  limit  to 
the  demands  one  teacher  may  make  upon  another's  time  and 
thought.  The  answers  might  have  been  worth  more  for  our 
purpose  if  the  question  had  run  :  What  per  cent,  of  your 
rural  school  teachers  have  had  one  or  two  year's  work  beyond 
the  rural  school  ?     In  what  kind  of  school  ? 

One  might  sum  up  the  data  on  the  preparation  of  the 
rural  school  teacher  and  say  :  ( i )  In  a  considerable  part 
(more  than  10  per  cent.)  of  the  counties  all  the  teachers  were 
prepared  in  schools  of  like  grade  with  those  in  which  they  are 
called  to  teach.  (2)  In  the  same  proportion  of  counties  all  the 
teachers  are  claimed  to  have  received  a  higher  training,  the 
exact  character  of  which  is  undetermined  because  of  incom- 
plete data.  (3)  The  other  counties  range  between  these  ex- 
tremes, having  a  varying  proportion  of  teachers  who  have  had 
some  higher  training.  The  need  of  closer  supervision  can  be 
seen  in  the  light  of  these  facts.  The  rural  school  teachers  are 
untrained  from  a  professional  and  academic  standpoint  to  so 
large  a  degree  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  class  them  with  the 
professional  or  learned  classes,  if  these  terms  are  strictly  de- 
fined. In  point  of  efficiency  they  must  be  classed  with  the 
journeyman  and  trade  apprentice,  for  they  are  working  on  a 
minimum  of  knowledge,  with  a  minimum  of  skill,  for  the  lack 
of  which  moral  earnestness  will  not  make  adequate  amends. 
From  the  engineer's  standpoint  the  question  would  be  :  How 
can  I  with  a  given  amount  of  money  at  my  command  increase. 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  89 

the  efficiency  of  the  institution  in  and  for  which  I  labor-in- 
crease the  efficiency  of  the  commonest  laborer  in  that  institu- 
tion ?  His  answer  in  all  the  commercial  and  industrial  lines 
of  activity  is  that  it  must  be  done  by  supervision,  and  that  of 
a  skilled  character.  The  expert  superintendent  is  indispen- 
sable in  all  the  trades  and  industries,  and  we  shall  learn  soon 
that  the  same  thing  must  be  done  to  increase  the  efficiency  of 
the  rural  school  teacher.  And  we  shall  learn  to  come  to  this 
change  without  sudden  breaks  or  upheavals.  Just  as  it  would 
be  impossible  to  run  a  printing  house  profitably  by  putting  it 
in  the  hands  of  certain  inexperienced  persons  who  had,  for- 
sooth, been  sent  away  a  term  to  a  night  school  of  printing,  or 
to  a  mid-summer  seaside  school  of  printing,  without  head  or 
supervision,  so  the  rural  school  can  not  be  run  effectively  by 
that  plan.  The  expert  printer's  services  are  needed  to  unify 
the  work,  to  keep  up  with  the  latest  and  best  things  in  the 
art  of  printing,  and  to  see  that  all  the  employes  are  working 
up  to  the  highest  degree  of  efficiency.  More  than  95  per  cent, 
of  the  rural  schools  included  in  this  study  follow  the  supposed 
plan  of  the  foolish  printing  company-give  all  the  interests 
over  to  the  comparatively  uninitiated  without  any  real  super- 
vision. If  this  condition  is  true  of  the  8666  rural  schools  con- 
sidered in  this  study,  what  of  the  other  rural  schools  of  Ihe 
country  ?  One  recalls  in  this  connection  the  statement  of  the 
Committee  of  Twelve  that  the  "  number  of  normal  trained 
teachers  in  rural  schools  is  lamentably  small,"  and  "rural 
schools  suffer  from  lack  of  trained  teachers."   (113). 

The  Course  of  Study 

The  statements  to  the  effect  that  the  county  has  a  course 
of  study  but  it  is  difficult  to  get  the  teachers  to  follow  it  and 
that  the  course  is  followed  ' '  strictly  ' '  give  a  clue  to  the  real 
condition  of  affairs  in  many,  at  least,  of  our  rural  counties,  so 
far  as  the  course  of  study  is  concerned.  Courses  are  worked 
out,  printed,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  teachers  In  too 
many  cases  there  is  evidently  no  way  of  holding  the  teachers 
up  to  the  printed  course  and  preparing  them  to  carry  out  its 
directions  if  they  are  not  yet  competent  to  do  so.  The  aver- 
age amount  of  supervision  given  the  teachers  of  the  300,000 
rural  school  children  whose  cultural  and  educational  advan- 
tages it  is  sought  to  ascertain  in  this  study  would  enable  the 
county  superintendent  or  commissioner  to  do  very  little  to- 
wards carrying  out  the  intent  of  an  elaborate  state  or  county 
course  of  study.  This  is  not  easy  when  conditions  are  most 
favorable,  and  the  difficulties  of  the  problem  are  greatly  en- 
hanced in  the  less  favored  counties.  One  or  two  supervisory 
visits  a  year  (or  less)  will  never  bring  the  rural  schools  up  to 


90  THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

a  fair  standard  of  efficiency  in  carrying  out  in  a  broad  way  the 
provisions  of  an  adequate  course  of  study.  Any  elaborate 
course  of  study  would  seem  to  assume  either  a  superior  degree 
of  ability  in  the  rural  teacher  or  supervision  adequate  to  raise 
the  level  of  the  teacher's  efficiency  in  a  comparatively  short 
time. 

If  one  were  to  assume  that  many  of  the  courses  indicated 
above  are  exactly  the  course  that  the  rural  schools  need,  (and 
many  of  them  are  really  meritorious  from  the  standpoint  of 
pedagogical  insight  and  in  their  right  emphasis  of  the  content 
side  of  the  curriculum)  he  would  still  be  confronted  with  the 
engineer's  problem.  Can  one  do  the  thing  proposed  vvith  the 
means  at  hand  in  the  time  allowed  ?  The  difficulty  of  holding 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  teachers  up  to  a  prescribed  course  of 
study  from  the  central  office  of  the  county  or  large  district  has 
now  been  pointed  out.  (114)  It  remains  to  consider  briefly 
the  essential  nature  of  the  course  of  study.  The  best  way  in 
which  to  regard  these  elaborate  courses  of  study  is  to  take 
them  as  counsels  of  excellence,  as  suggestions  of  what  could 
be  done  with  well  trained  teachers,  as  a  prophecy  of  what  the 
American  rural  school  will  do  when  the  people  are  awakened 
to  the  needs  of  their  children  and  of  the  fair  land  in  which 
they  live.  But  if  some  foreigner  visiting  our  country  were  to 
collect  the  courses  of  study  from  our  twenty  leading  counties 
and  collate  their  contents  as  representing  what  is  taught,  and 
how  much  it  is  taught,  in  our  average  country  schools  his 
mistake  would  be  an  egregious  one. 

Passing  on  from  the  contention  that  our  printed  courses 
of  study  are  but  slightly  to  be  trusted  as  exact  indices  of  the 
work  t'^  at  is  done  now  in  the  rural  school,  both  in  quantity 
and  in  ^^uality,  I  desire  to  point  out  that  there  is  the  greatest 
uncertainty  of  sound  in  much  of  our  current  educational  litera- 
ture on  ^he  whole  subject  of  the  curriculum.  What  should 
the  cour^  e  of  study  be  ?  Can  the  present  one  be  slightly  modi- 
fied so  as  to  meet  every  reasonable  demand,  or  will  it  be  nec- 
essary to  construct  an  entirely  new  one  ?  Is  the  course  of 
study  that  is  best  for  the  city  also  the  best  for  the  country 
school  ?  If  the  plan  of  reconstruction  or  revolution  be  adopted 
what  shall  be  the  principles  of  procedure  ?  These  are  ques- 
tions that  educational  writers  can  not  permanently  postpone. 

The  principles  of  reconstruction  which  would  have  to  be 
taken  into  consideration  in  an  effort  to  build  upon  the  ground 
thus  prepared  are  (i)  the  venerable  doctrine  that  certain 
studies  which  are  of  very  little  value  in  themselves  are  of  the 
greatest  value  for  purely  disciplinary  power  ;  the  claim  that 
what  is  taught  shall  have  a  certain  utility  either  for  the  child 
himself  or  for  society  and  the  state  ;  the  relation  of  the  sensory 


THE  RURAi.  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  91 

and  verbal  side  of  education  to  the  motor  and  constructive 
side  ;  and  finally  to  what  extent  the  principle  of  specialization 
can  be  adopted  in  the  common  vSchool  course  in  the  high  school 
and  below  ;  and  whether  this  same  thing  can  not  be  done  for 
the  rural  school  after  consolidation  shall  have  become  some- 
what general. 

It  now  seems  probable  that  we  shall,  at  an  early  date,  find 
it  necessary  to  adopt  a  plan  of  thoroughgoing  reconstruction 
in  our  course  of  study.  What  shall  be  the  attitude  of  the  pro- 
gressive school  men,  therefore,  who  are  by  no  means  satisfied 
with  the  present  course  of  study  and  who  are  not  sure  just  what 
changes  they  ought  to  make  in  the  course  which  they  have 
inherited  to  meet  reasonable  demands  ?  The  safe  plan  here  is 
not  to  adopt  suggestions  that  are  too  radical.  One  may  well 
temporize,  making  only  such  changes  as  he  is  sure  of,  or  such 
as  have,  perhaps,  been  tried  elsewhere.  This  is  the  plan  of 
improving  the  present  course  of  study.  Several  suggestions 
may  be  made  as  to  how  this  may  be  done.  One  method  is  that 
of  elimination.  The  less  important  subjects  in  each  study  may 
be  eli  inated  and  the  time  thus  saved  may  be  used  for  con- 
fessedly more  important  matters.  Another  suggestion  is  that 
the  subjects  may  be  so  correlated  as  to  enrich  the  work  and 
save  much  time.  For  instance,  spelling  may  be  taught  in 
connection  with  all  written  work  ;  geography  and  history  may 
be  taught  together  to  the  advantage  of  both,  and  in  less  time 
than  would  be  required  for  the  plan  which  regards  them  as 
subjects  to  be  treated  in  entire  isolation  ;  then  composition  fits 
in  with  several  subjects  and  it  may  be  profitably  taught  in 
connection  therewith.  A  third  plan  is  closely  related  with  the 
last  named,  viz.,  teaching  certain  things  incidentally,  in  more 
or  less  close  relation,  however,  with  other  subjects.  Morals 
and  manners  are  mostly  taught  in  this  way.  Current  events, 
the  main  points  of  elementary  grammar,  music,  and  hygiene 
are  subjects  which  might  most  easily  and  profitably  lend  them- 
selves to  this  mode  of  treatment.  A  fourth  method  is  that  of 
omission.  Certain  subjects  are  to  be  omitted  at  least  from 
some  of  the  grades  in  which  they  are  now  taught.  This  has 
been  done  in  cities  large  and  small,  and  it  represents  a  serious 
reaction  against  the  present  overburdened  curriculum.  It  is 
impossible  in  this  study  to  go  into  the  subject  of  the  curric- 
ulum at  greater  length.  The  literature  on  this  subject  is  a 
great  and  rapidly  increasing  one.  The  course  of  study  is  the 
subject  of  one  of  the  most  notable  pedagogical  publications  of 
the  last  year,  a  work  of  two  volumes  by  Chas.  A.  McMurry, 
Ph.  D.    (ii6) 

Question  5,  concerning  the  reading  matter  used  above 
the  third  grade,  introduces  a  subject  that  demands  some  dis- 


92        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL    IN    THE   UNITED  STATES 

cussion.  There  are  two  facts  which  seem  equally  striking  in 
this  connection,  viz.,  (i)  that  so  many  good  things  have  been 
introduced  into  the  reading  work  of  these  grades  within  a 
short  time  in  so  many  places  ;  (2)  that  there  are  so  many 
schools  in  which  there  is  no  other  reading  material  than  that 
contained  in  the  readers.  This  new  matter  which  has  been 
recently  added  to  the  work  in  reading  may  be  spoken  of  as 
"  literary  wholes"  to  distinguish  it  from  the  matter  contained 
in  the  usual  readers  the  plan  of  which  precludes  the  presenta- 
tion of  any  lengthy  ' '  literary  wholes. ' '  The  usual  reader 
material  is  of  far  less  value  from  the  literary,  the  ethical,  the 
cultural  standpoint  than  a  much  smaller  number  of  the  longer 
classics,  or  literary  wholes.  In  the  latter  case  the  value  is  en- 
hanced for  several  reasons  among  which  are  these  :  (i)  The 
interest  grows  during  the  entire  study  of  any  great  classic 
from  the  first  page  to  the  last  because  there  is  such  an  arrange- 
ment of  human  elements  as  to  produce  this  cumulative  effect  ; 
(2)  the  student  gets  a  far  better  conception  of  how  a  classic 
grows  and  is  built  up  out  of  elements  and  parts  that  may 
easily  be  analyzed;  (3)  the  educative,  expansive,  character  of 
a  classic  (which  may  be  wholly  incidental)  is  greater  in  the 
classic  although  the  intellectual  elements  may  not  be  as  great 
or  valuable  as  the  same  number  of  reader  material  pages  ;  (4) 
sometimes  a  whole  classic  is  necessary  to  give  one  a  back- 
ground to  a  great  epoch  in  history  or  a  period  of  human  de- 
velopment. The  whole  classic  will  likely  be  needed  to  give 
one  as  deep  an  insight  into  historic  development  as  possible. 
Such  is  the  nature  and  value  of  Evangeline,  of  the  Courtship 
of  Miles  Standish,  and  of  William  Tell.  All  classics  are  more 
or  less  so.   (117) 

On  the  other  hand  it  may  be  said  that  the  readers  are 
often  rich  in  short  poems  that  are  among  the  choicest  gems  of 
literature.  These  are  wholes,  but  instead  of  using  them  in  a 
setting  of  stories  of  travel  or  adventure,  of  biography  and 
scraps  of  so-called  nature  study  description,  it  would  be  better 
to  give  them  a  literary  setting  in  the  longer  wholes  which  are 
mentioned  in  the  answers  to  question  5,  The  short  poems 
here  referred  to  could  be  introduced  for  the  educational  pur- 
pose of  enrichment ;  as  incidents  in  an  important  epoch  ;  for 
purposes  of  comparison  with  some  passage  which  the  short 
poem  resembles  or  of  which  it  otherwise  reminds  one  ;  or  for 
variety,  interspersed  between  the  longer  and  more  serious 
classic  wholes  which  should  form  the  larger  part  of  the  read- 
ing matter  beyond  the  third  school  year.  When  the  reader 
plan  is  followed  there  are  so  many  different  entirely  unrelated 
units  of  thought  that  the  memory  must  retain  if  the  work  in 
reading  is  to  produce  its  best  effect,  and  not  be  a  mere  drill  in 


THE  RURAL   SCHOOL  IN    THE   UNITED  STATES        93 

the  mechanics  of  reading.  Usually  the  memory  is  injured 
rather  than  built  up.  In  a  hurried  study  of  the  content  of  a 
number  of  readers  I  found,  taking  all  the  readers  in  a  rather 
well  supplied  city  school  library  as  the  basis  of  my  study,  that 
the  average  length  of  selection  in  the  second  reader  is  2.35 
pages,  the  shortest  average  being  1.7,  and  the  longest  average 
being  3,5  pages.  For  the  third  reader  the  corresponding  fig- 
ures are  2.88,  2.30,  and  3.50  pages  respectively.  In  the  case 
of  the  fourth  reader  the  figures  are  4.28,  3.40,  and  5.80  pages 
respectively.  This  is  a  compass  not  ample  enough  to  allow 
an  author  to  exhibit  his  constructive  powers  and  to  give  an 
adequate  conception  of  cause  and  effect  working  themselves 
out  in  the  lives  of  men  and  women  and  nations.  It  is  only 
the  genius  that  can  do  this  at  all,  and  he  can  do  it  only  on 
condition  that  he  shall  have  space  enough  to  make  plans,  de- 
velop them,  reach  climaxes,  and  move  on  to  inevitable  con- 
clusions. And  I  submit  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  literature  to 
describe  conditions  and  make  them  clear,  and  to  leave  it  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  reader  to  explain  and  trace  out  cause  and 
effect  in  the  development  of  human  character. 

President  Eliot  makes  an  almost  startling  statement  in 
regard  to  the  amount  of  matter  that  the  usual  reader  plan 
provides  for  the  children  in  the  grades.  He  found  as  the 
result  of  a  brief  examination  of  the  grammar  schools  that  the 
average  amount  of  material  read  under  the  head  of  "  reading  " 
is  only  11 50  pages.  He  calculates  that  if  the  rate  of  a  fairly 
active  boy  be  put  at  25  pages  an  hour,  the  public  school 
pupil  has  in  the  whole  eight  years  enough  reading  matter  to 
occupy  his  undivided  time  for  just  46  hours  When  this 
condition  on  the  quantitative  side  of  the  subject  is  taken  in 
connection  with  the  facts  that  have  been  brought  out  in  the 
discussion  of  the  matter  in  its  qualitative  aspects,  the  situation 
of  affairs  in  the  average  rural  school  so  far  as  reading  is  con- 
cerned can  not  be  viewed  with  complacency.  There  is  a  man- 
ifest poverty  of  material  in  our  public  schools  in  one  of  the 
most  important  subjects — a  subject  that  may  easily  be  made 
to  yield  the  richest  results  for  the  future  life  of  the  child. 
There  can  not  be  found  any  apology  for  such  a  condition  of 
affairs  in  our  schools,  considering  how  inexpensive  most  of 
the  classics  are.  Custom  and  habit  weigh  heavily  upon  most 
schoolmasters,  and  still  more  so  with  boards  of  education. 
Of  course  it  is  far  more  easy  to  order  the  books  for  the  reader 
course  and  not  bother  with  the  selection  of  classics  adapted  to 
the  several  grades ;  it  is  cheaper  to  have  only  the  readers  ;  the 
readers  are  easier  to  teach,  for  all  the  work  is  graded,  adapted, 
abridged,  annotated,  and  provided  with  lists  of  words  hard  to 
pronounce  accurately  marked,  all  new  words  defined,  and  even 


94        THE  RURAL.  SCHOOL   IN    THE  UNITED   STATES 

lists  of  themes  for  profitable  compositions  are  given  ;  and 
finally  the  book  agent  is  vigorous  in  pressing  the  claims  of 
his  set  of  readers  while  there  is  little  pecuniary  interest  in  the 
sale  of  English  classics  fcr  use  in  the  publit  schools. 

Literature,  science,  or  nature  study,  and  history  (the  last 
of  which  is  not  mentioned  in  the  table)  are  the  great  content 
subjects  of  the  public  school  curriculum.  The  answers  to 
question  6  will  enable  one  to  judge  whether  the  course  as  now 
found  is  strong  or  weak  on  the  content  side.  From  the  time 
of  the  sophists  in  Greece  there  has  been  a  sharp  distinction 
drawn  between  subjects  pursued  mainly  for  the  content  value 
and  another  kind  of  study  which  is  held  to  be  of  a  wholly  for- 
mal value.  This  emphasis  seems  to  be  maximal  in  the  cur- 
riculum of  our  rural  and  city  school  systems  below  the  high 
school.  It  is  contented  that  certain  studies  of  comparatively 
slight  value  in  themselves  are  of  the  greatest  value  in  giving 
mental  discipline,  formal  power,  which  like  electricity  in  a 
storage  batterj^  or  water  in  a  standpipe  may  be  tapped  off  into 
any  desired  channel  and  used  in  the  performance  of  various 
kinds  of  work.  Reading,  considered  as  a  mechanical  habitu- 
ation, spelling,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  our  older  public  school  curriculum,  constitute  to-day 
the  recognized  backbone  of  all  rural  school  curricula  every- 
where. May  not  one  acquire  facility  in  pronouncing  hard 
words  and  juggling  with  mysterious  mathematical  signs  and 
figures  without  enriching  his  life  on  the  content  side  ?  Should 
not  formal  development  go  hand  in  hand  with  development 
along  lines  of  rich  content?  If  such  is  the  thought  with 
which  one  examines  our  rural  school  curriculum  he  will  soon 
find  himself  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  it  needs  enrichment 
on  the  content  side,  and  the  statistics  showing  the  work  done 
in  science,  nature  study,  and  literature  are  to  be  considered 
alone  from  this  standpoint. 

The  answers  to  questions  8  and  9  are  especially  significant 
as  indicating  the  strength  or  weakness  of  the  common  school 
curriculum  on  the  motor,  expressive,  or  creative  side.  It 
would  seem  to  be  difficult  to  find  any  biological  basis  at  all  for 
our  present  course  of  study,  and  the  only  psychological  basis 
is  that  of  a  poor  and  discredited  psychology — the  psychology 
of  the  intellect — the  emotions,  sentiments,  and  action  being 
entirely  neglected.  (129)  Possibly  a  triple  division  of  sub- 
jects into  those  of  content,  of  expression,  and  of  purely  for- 
mal value  would  be  the  most  suggestive  for  purposes  of  inter- 
pretation and  evaluation  in  the  study  of  the  curriculum. 
Expressive  subjects  give  self-mastery  ;  the  formal  give  one 
command  of  the  symbols  through  which  the  thoughts  and 
achievements  of  one  age  become  transmissible  to  and  interpre 


THE   RURAL   SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED   STATES        85 

table  by  a  later  age  ;  while  the  content  subjects  add  enrich- 
ment by  feeding  the  soul.  (117)  In  what  proportions  and 
in  what  order  these  elements  should  be  introduced  into  the 
curriculum  of  the  common  school  is  for  a  true  ethics  and  a 
true  psychology  to  determine.  We  have  gone  far  enough,  at 
least,  to  see  that  any  system  of  schools  must  be  classed  as 
weak  that  is  seriously  lacking  in  content,  or  that  provides  for 
no  development  along  lines  of  expression  and  creative  activi- 
ty. Imitation  is  the  method  by  which  the  child  gains  self 
mastery  through  expressive  and  creative  activity.  It  is  this 
fact  that  makes  all  sorts  of  imitative  games  so  valuable  in  the 
early  stages  of  education.  The  ordinary  school  curriculum 
provides  for  no  imitative  activity  whatever,  and  in  many  texts 
in  psychology  it  would  seem  to  be  regarded  as  a  subject  of 
little  value.  Imitation  is  a  sign  of  weakness,  the  imitator  not 
having  any  initiative  of  his  own.  Asa  matter  of  fact,  it  may 
well  be  questioned  whether  there  would  ever  be  any  advance- 
ment in  originality  if  theie  were  not  first  more  or  less  passive 
imitation.  Professor  J.  Mark  Baldwin  well  says  :  "We  can- 
not divide  the  child  into  two  parts,  two  realities  coming  up  to 
the  facts  of  life  with  two  capabilities,  one  fitted  only  to  imi- 
tate, and  the  other  fitted  to  invent.  Of  course  it  is  the  same 
child  whatever  he  does  ;  and  if  he  be  gifted  with  the  power  of 
invention  at  all,  this  power  should  show  itself  in  all  he  does." 
(118) 

There  are  certain  subjects  of  an  obviously  practical  value 
for  the  rural  school,  such  as  the  study  of  the  weather  map  and 
agricultural  topics.  The  answers  to  question?  3  and  1 1  give 
some  facts  enabling  one  to  judge  of  the  character  of  our  rural 
school  work  in  this  regard.  The  rural  consciousness  is  just 
awaking  to  the  importance  of  these  matters. 

Questions  14  and  18  seek  information  on  matters  which 
point  out  what  the  attitude  of  the  community  is  towards  its 
school.  Is  it  a  social  centre  to  any  degree?  Are  the  parents 
interested  enough  to  attend  meetings  called  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  school  ?  Are  the  teachers  and  school  officers  im- 
bued with  the  thought  that  only  through  co-operation  among 
all  parties  concerned  can  the  school  become  the  great  social  in- 
stitution that  it  ought  to  become  ?  We  usually  like  to  be  with 
people  we  esteem,  and  at  places  that  give  us  instruction  and 
inspiration.  What  is  the  value  of  the  rural  school  as  a  place 
of  inspiration  to  pupils  and  to  their  parents  ?  It  is  only  a 
sentimental  value  that  one  attaches  to  the  Bible  if  he  makes 
no  use  of  its  contents  for  the  spiritual  guidance  and  help  of 
which  he  feels  continual  need.  It  is  vain  for  parents  to  pro- 
test their  interest  in  the  school  if  they  never  go  near  it  or  help 
it  to  do  its  work  in  an  increasingly  effective  way.     If  they  do 


96        THE   RURAL  SCHOOL    IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 

not  use  it  to  its  fullest  limit  they  are  not  its  best  helpers. 
The  school  is  like  the  Bible  and  money.  It  must  be  used  to 
bring  out  its  greatest  value.  Taken  in  connection  with  the 
facts  in  regard  to  the  improvement  of  the  school  ground  and 
buildings,  these  answers  indicate  what  the  attitude  of  the  pub- 
lic really  is  towards  the  school  and  what  it  is  probably  most  in 
need  of — a  great  crusade  of  enlightenment  and  agitation.  If 
the  country  people  loved  their  rural  schools  as  they  say  they 
do,  and  as  they  may  think  they  do,  they  would  adorn  them 
and  point  to  them  with  as  much  pi'ide  as  they  now  do  to  their 
neat  barns,  well  kept  horses  and  cattle,  or  to  their  wide  waving 
fields  of  grain  and  their  burdened  orchards. 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL.  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  97 

CHAPTER  Vni; 

THB  RURAI,  SCHOOIy  OF  THB  FUTURB 

What  will  the  rural  school  of  the  future  be  like  ?  What 
will  it  do  ?  How  will  it  do  it  ?  How  will  the  needed  trans- 
formation of  conditions  be  brought  about  ?  In  what  funda- 
mental respects  will  it  differ  from  the  rural  school  of  our  day  ? 
These  questions  suggest  a  very  interesting  field  for  the  exer*- 
cise  of  the  imagination  because  of  the  acknowledged  advan- 
tages of  life  in  the  country.  But  there  are  certain  known  ele- 
ments of  the  problem  which  lift  it  into  a  higher  sphere  than 
that  of  mere  imagination.  It  is  these  known  elements  which 
mark  it  as  a  field  especially  interesting  to  the  educational  theo- 
rist and  the  social  reformer,  or  destine  it  to  become  interesting 
to  all  such  men.  Is  it  not  as  reasonable  to  study  the  future  of 
the  American  rural  school  as  it  is  to  study  the  future  of. 
American  diplomacy,  the  future  of  theology,  the  future  of - 
medicine,  or  the  future  of  railways  ?  The  rural  school  can^ 
never  rise  to  its  proper  place  among  the  institutions  of  civili- 
zation and  culture  until  it  is  the  object  of  the  best  thought, 
and  the  centre  of  the  most  enlightened  and  sympathetic  co-op- 
eration of  the  wisest  and  best  people — until  it  is  an  object  of 
concern  to  all  people  whose  homes  are  in  the  country.  This 
interest  cannot  be  aroused  without  much  hard  pioneer  work. 

It  is  some  time  since  we  have  entered  upon  a  new  epoch 
so  far  as  the  American  rural  school  is  concerned — an  epoch  of 
inquiry  into  its  conditions  and  its  needs,  and  of  appreciation 
so  far  as  its  mission  and  opportunity  are  concerned.  The  cry 
of  the  occasional  speaker  of  the  late  70' s  and  the  80' s  haS; 
elicited  an  interest  that  is  now  on  the  increase  and  bids  fair  to 
work  decided  changes  in  our  rural  school  program.  Commit- 
tees have  been  appointed,  have  made  their  studies,  have  re- 
ported, and  have  been  heard.  In  certain  localities  forces  are 
working  out  changes  in  rural  schools  that  are  very  promising. 
How  can  the  findings  of  committees  be  made  more  effective  ? 
How  can  the  social  forces  now  working  beneficient  changes  in 
a  few  localities  be  made  more  generally  operative  ? 

In  such  a  study  as  that  which  is  proposed  in  this  chapter 
there  can  be  no  very  critical  consideration  of  those  changes- 
which  by  degrees  almost  imperceptible  bridge  over  the  chasm 
between  the  rural  school  of  the  past  and  that  of  the  future. 
It  is  always  easier  to  trace  out  the  causes  and  conditions  of  a 
historical  event  than  it  is  to  foretell  precisely  how  causes  and 
modifying  causes  will  conspire  to  produce  an  event  to  which 
one  looks  forward.  Hence  most  of  those  false  prophecies 
that  have  gone  out  into  the  world.     Great,  however,  as  is  the 


98        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

risk,  it  is  best  not  to  conclude  this  study  without  a  chapter  on 
the  rural  school  of  the  future. 

What,  therefore,  of  the  rural  school  of  the  future? 

I.  In  the  first  place,  the  chief  concern  of  rural  school  of 
the  future  will  be  what  it  can  do  and  what  it  can  become,  not 
what  it  has  been  and  what  it  has  done.  The  custom  of. 
defending  what  is  habitual,  or  repelling  the  novel  by  reciting 
the  methods  and  aims  of  our  forefathers  must  be  discarded  in 
the  case  of  the  rural,  as  it  has  been  in  the  case  of  the  best 
city  schools.  No  institution,  any  more  than  a  state,  wholly 
unconscious  of  an  inherited  destiny,  a  future,  a  mission  of 
service  and  power,  a  purpose  earnestly  striven  for,  a  policy, 
if  yon  please,  can  long  escape  general  inefficiency  and  deca- 
dence. Rooted  and  grounded  in  the  past  as  all  social  institu- 
tions doubtless  are,  their  chief  source  of  inspiration  is  in  the 
future  and  their  only  potential  aspect  is  toward  the  future. 
It  is  the  bane  of  the  rural  school  that  most  of  the  persons  in 
authority  have  been  either  unable  or  unwilling  to  withdraw 
their  eyes  from  the  past  long  enough  to  take  a  thoughtful 
look  at  the  future.  It  is  a  deserved  reproach  of  the  common 
school  that  all  reforms  through  which  it  has  passed  have  been 
forced  upon  it  from  without  and  not  developed  from  within. 
An  attitude  less  hostile  to  the  new,  if  it  had  been  adopted  by 
the  schoolmaster  with  his  superiors  and  advisers,  would  have 
saved  the  teaching  body  from  this  galling  reproach.  And 
what  if  the  schoolmaster's  attitude  had  been  inquisitive  and 
actively  hospitable  to  the  new  ?  But  we  should  not  ask  more 
of  the  schoolmaster  of  the  past  than  we  do  of  the  preacher, 
the  lawyer,  the  physician,  or  the  statesman.  With  a  spirit  of 
fairness  and  a  knowledge  of  the  conditions  under  which,  in 
nearly  all  ages,  he  has  been  compelled  to  work,  we  shall  be 
prompted  to  ask  far  less.  In  the  case  of  each  profession, 
devious,  interrupted,  difficult  is  the  way  that  leads  from  hos- 
tility toward  the  new  to  glad  acceptance  of  the  new,  from  what- 
ever source  it  might  come.  Many  professional  men  are  still 
worshiping  the  Idols  of  custom  and  tradition  with  hurtful 
devotion. 

The  day  of  the  new  rural  school  will  not  come  to-morrow, 
and  it  may  not  come  within  the  next  two  or  three  decades  ; 
but  when  that  day  comes  it  will  dawu  upon  a  school  that  is 
conscious  of  a  sacred  mission,  a  great  purpose,  a  working  pol- 
icy, and  a  gaze  fixed  upon  the  future.  The  most  active  in 
shaping  the  character  of  the  rural  school  will  be  leaders  not 
second  to  those  that  have  molded  the  character  of  any  other 
profession  or  institution.  The  problems  that  will  be  sure  to 
arise  will  be  solved  by  the  methods  of  co-operation  which  will 
involve  initiative,  criticism,  tolerance,  progress  by  the  adoption 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL    IN   THE   UNITED  STATES        99 

of  the  new  and  the  elimination  of  the  useless  old.  The  prob- 
lems will  be  recognized  as  the  problems  of  the  community, 
and  not  of  a  class. 

2.  In  the  second  place  the  rural  school  of  the  future 
will  become  aggressively  active.  This  activity  will  grow  out 
of  interest  and  a  desire  to  improve  the  rural  school  in  all  of  its  ' 
aspects  and  departments.  The  one  great  desideratum  before 
any  attempt  is  made  to  improve  the  school  is  to  bring  the 
people  of  the  rural  community  to  a  healthful  awareness  ( i ) 
that  the  future  of  our  country  depends  upon  how  the  rural 
districts  bring  up  their  children ;  (2)  that  fields,  flowers, 
blue  sky,  a  neglected  school,  and  an  underpaid  and  ill-pre- 
pared teacher  are  not  enough  left  to  themselves  to  wield  the 
desired  influence  upon  these  children ;  (3)  that  trained 
leadership  is  as  much  needed  in  the  development  of  country 
life  and  thought  as  it  has  been  needed  for  the  same  purposes 
in  the  city  ;  (4)  that  such  leadership  will  cost  something — 
something  in  money  and  not  less,  something  in  terms  of  social 
appreciation  and  confidence.  It  would  not  seem  to  be  necessary 
to  dwell  upon  the  cultural,  the  ethical  value  of  a  free  country 
life — country  life  at  its  best.  (129)  A  pretty  general  knowl- 
edge of  this  higher  value  of  country  life  at  its  best  may  be 
taken  for  granted.  How  can  the  public  conscience  and  pub- 
lic opinion  be  quickened  and  developed  ?  Only  by  a  number 
of  persons  whose  interest  in  the  economic,  social,  educational, 
and  aesthetic  aspects  of  rural  community  life  is  great  enough 
to  enable  them  to  mold  public  opinion.  Better  conditions  of 
labor,  more  efficient  tillage  of  the  land,  the  educational,  cul- 
tural, and  recreative  use  of  a  greater  number  of  holidays  ; 
better  knowledge  of  plants  and  soils,  of  markets  and  market- 
ing ;  a  more  thorough  diffusion  of  all  pertinent  scientific 
knowledge,  and  especially  of  agricultural  knowledge, — these 
are  examples  of  the  benefits  that  will  accrue  from  a  policy 
that  is  aggressive  for  the  improvement  of  rural  life.  Public 
opinion  will  prepare  its  own  leaders  and  in  turn  will  be  react- 
ed upon  by  those  leaders.  Through  some  such  stages  as  these 
is  arising  whatever  active  rural  school  policy  we  have,  and  in 
this  way  such  a  policy  will  continue  to  grow  and  extend. 

3.  In  the  next  place  the  rural  school  of  the  future  will 
differ  sharply  from  the  school  of  a  few  decades  ago  and  from 
the  school  of  our  day  in  a  number  of  important  respects 
(i).  It  will  not  be  an  isolated  school  for  twenty  or  fewer 
pupils,  100  days  in  the  year,  and  playing  no  part  in  the  social 
well  being  of  the  community.  The  educative  forces  in  such 
a  school  are  not  powerful.  There  is  no  vital  contact  with  the 
best  intellectual,  artistic  and  ethical  institutions  and  products 
of  the  age.     The  problems  of  such  a  school  are  not  the  prob- 


100        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

lems  of  life.  There  is  nothing  in  such  a  school  to  stimulate, 
,to  arouse,  to  inform,  to  mold  those  for  whom  the  school  ex- 
ists. Its  work  is  almost  necessarily  dead  and  formal.  Its 
purpose  according  to  theory  is  to  form  character  ;  in  practice 
it  is  the  dispenser  of  and  the  drill  master  in  the  symbols  of  our 
civilization,  working  in  utter  disjunction  from  the  great  prob- 
lems of  a  rich  life. 

There  is  a  great  economic  loss  involved  in  the  possession 
of  either  church  or  school  used  so  little  as  these  institutions 
are  used  today  all  over  our  country.  Taking  the  country  as  a 
whole,  the  rural  school  house  is  used  about  five  or  six  hours, 
for  five  days  in  the  week,  for  half  of  the  year.  Society  owns 
no  other  common  property  that  is  used  so  little.  (120)  This 
loss  must  continue  until  the  new  rural  school  appears.  What 
change  in  the  attitude  towards  the  rural  school  will  bring 
about  the  more  economic  use  of  the  rural  school  buildings  ? 
The  answer  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  rural  school  of  the  future 
will  be  (2)  the  social  centre  of  the  rural  community.  What  is 
the  social  centre  in  the  average  rural  community  of  our  day  ? 
The  answer  is  easy.  There  is  none.  There  is  no  place  in  the 
average  rural  community  that  deserves  the  name — social 
centre.  A  social  centre  is  a  meeting  ground  for  the  interplay 
of  social  forces,  those  unseen  but  potent  mental  energies, 
-which  are  brought  into  action  when  one  individual  meets  an- 
other. The  social  centre  of  the  community  is  the  meeting 
ground  for  the  interplay  of  all  the  constructive  social  forces 
inherent  in  all  the  individuals  which  comprise  such  commu- 
nity. Why  could  the  rural  church  not  furnish  this  meeting 
ground  ?  It  might  ;  but  from  the  standpoint  of  social  leader- 
ship, it  would  have  to  change  its  method  of  work  and  its  atti- 
tude towards  the  problems  of  rural  life.  These  changes  are 
likely  to  be  harder  to  bring  about  than  those  which  would  be 
required  to  make  the  rural  school  worthy  of  confidence  as  the 
social  centre  of  the  community.   (23) 

Now  the  same  objection  cannot  be  urged  against  the 
school,  for  there  is  this  essential  difference  between  the  church 
and  the  school,  that  the  latter  is  not  the  vehicle  of  such,  prej- 
udices, such  animosities,  such  sectarian  demarcations  as  is  the 
church.  The  activity  of  the  church  is  too  often  centered  in 
dogma,  which  is  something  finished,  perfect,  divine.  There 
is  no  such  finality  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  elementary 
education  as  to  render  discussion  and  agitation  for  change  im- 
possible or  undesirable.  It  is  only  by  fresh  thinking  and  the 
perpetual  interchange  of  ideas  on  any  concept  that  it  can  be 
kept  from  becoming  the  content  of  an  unchanging,  and  there- 
fore dead,  verbiage.  "  Better  fifty  years  of  Europe  than. a 
cycle  of  Cathay,"  because  in  the  one  there  is  a  relentless  hos- 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES         101 

tility  to  all  agitation,  to  the  new  ;  in  the  other,  society  comes 
to  ever  clearer  consciousness  of  its  nature,  its  powers,  its  des- 
tiny and  duties  by  the  sharp  attrition  of  mind  upon  mind. 
Steel  sharpens  steel. 

So  the  school  is  far  better  fitted  to  become  the  social 
centre  of  the  community  than  any  church  would  possibly  be. 
The  school  engrosses  more  interests  which  all  members  of  the 
community  hold  in  common.  It  may  be  assumed  that  it  is 
possible  to  unite  all  members  of  the  community  in  certain  in- 
terests and  activities,  among  which  the  following  might  be 
named  :  Interest  in  the  education  of  their  own  children  ;  in- 
terest in  the  industrial  education  of  these  children  ;  a  desire  to 
have  as  good  schools  as  the  means  at  hand  can  secure  ;  a  wish 
to  promote  good  feeling,  a  knowledge  of  many  cultural  things, 
and  to  foster  a  broad  community  sympathy.  The  school  is 
just  the  place  to  be  chosen  as  the  centre  for  all  this  construct- 
ive activity.  And  it  is  now  really  becoming  the  centre  for 
such  interest  and  activity  at  a  far  more  rapid  rate  than  one 
would  suspect. 

This  position  as  the  social  centre  of  the  community  will 
give  the  rural  school  of  the  future  great  power,  but  it  will  en- 
tail a  lofty  duty  and  a  high  responsibility.  How  is  it  ever  to 
measure  up  to  such  a  high  standard  of  eflSciency  and  power  ? 
Only  by  co-operation  between  a  body  of  professionally  trained 
teachers  and  supervisory  oflScers  on  the  one  hand,  and  all 
other  members  of  the  community  on  the  other  hand.  (119) 
It  must  stand  in  the  closest  possible  touch  with  the  material 
and  the  spiritual  needs  of  men  as  the  men  regard  these  needs, 
or  as  an  institution  it  cannot  endure  long.  (121)  In  the 
meetings  of  a  community  thus  enlightened  by  the  spirit  and 
practice  of  mutual  helpfulness,  the  freest  expression  of  opin- 
ion may  be  encouraged  without  fear  of  arousing  prejudice  or 
acrimony.  The  co-operation  which  is  here  ever  kept  in  mind 
is  not  a  sentimental  one  in  which  the  assessed  shall  pa}-^  all 
the  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  school,  and  the  teacher  all  the 
brains  required  to  run  them.  It  is  an  organic  co-operation  of 
the  members  of  a  society  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  cons- 
ciously set  collective  end.  Every  question  rests  for  final  set- 
tlement with  that  society.  This  is  not  held  to  mean  that  soci- 
ety, so  working,  shall  have  no  need  of  leadership,  of  guidance. 
Just  the  contrary.  But  such  a  society  will  be  most  helped  by 
leaders  who  can  learn  many  lessons  from  the  led,  and  who  are 
adepts  in  the  technique  of  social  suggestion  and  such  manly 
persuasion  and  argumentation  as  are  proper  in  an  enlightened 
democracy.  A  society  without  such  leadership  is  civilization 
turned  back  to  the  middle  ages,  and  leadership  without  the 
intelligent,  frank,  hearty,  unenforced  support  of  the  majority 


102        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

is  an  anachronism   in   our  day,    and   a  blot   on   civilization, 
wherever  found. 

But  the  school  of  the  future  will  differ  from  the  school  of 
the  past  and  the  present  in  that  it  will  be  (3)  a  seminary  of 
physical,  intellectual  and  moral  culture.  It  will  relate  itself 
far  more  intimately  and  vitally  to  the  practical  interests  of  the 
community  on  the  one  hand  :  and  on  the  other  hand  it  will 
relate  itself  with  (a)  these  ideals  of  individual  and  social  health 
and  worth  without  which  no  community  or  state  can  attain  its 
highest  and  healthiest  development  ;  and  (b)  play  and  recrea- 
tion for  cultural  ends,  and  not  for  useless  or  vulgar  display  or 
mere  soul-destroying  pastime.  Instead  of  being  a  place  where 
for  a  few  short  hours  on  certain  days  of  the  week  a  few  set 
ideas  are  drilled  into  the  intellects  of  the  children,  it  will  be  a 
place  of  culture,  and  training,  and  inspiration,  as  well  as  in- 
struction and  informing.  It  will  be  a  seminary.  A  seminary 
is  a  place  where  seeds  grow — grow,  too,  under  conditions  that 
are  well  adapted  to  the  end  in  view  and  to  the  nature  of  the 
seed,  A  school  that  is  a  seminary  is  a  place  where  the  seed 
thoughts  of  civilization  are  caused  to  take  root  in  the  intellects, 
and  hearts  of  the  students  which  have  been  entrusted  to  them. 
The  physical  environment,  school  atmosphere,  relation 
between  teacher  and  pupil,  training  of  those  who  aspire  to  be 
the  teachers  in  this  school,  methods  of  securing  helpful  co- 
operation between  the  school  authorities  and  the  community 
at  large  will  be  matters  of  primal  importance  in  the  educa- 
tional economy  of  the  future  rural  school.  The  school  so  or- 
ganized and  managed  will  go  on  to  ascertain  the  real  values  of 
the  different  subjects  of  the  school  curriculum.  What  are 
ends  in  themselves  ?  Which  only  means  ?  In  a  school  so 
alert  it  will  be  impossible  for  so  much  time  to  be  spent  on  a 
group  of  subjects  that  are  only  instruments  of  further  ad- 
vancement. (122)  The  course  of  study  in  the  rural  school 
will  be  a  course  that  is  endorsed  by  a  large  majority  of  the 
people  themselves. 

There  are  two  locations  that  are  equally  objectionable 
from  the  standpoint  of  environment,  the  busy,  noisy,  crowded 
street  corner  of  a  large  city  and  the  isolated,  treeless  corner  of 
a  country  cross-roads.  In  the  future  both  city  and  country 
will  see  to  it  that  these  locations  are  religiously  avoided.  In 
many  a  rural  community  it  would  be  possible  to  find  a  village 
or  small  town  sufficiently  near  the  geographical  or  population 
centre  to  be  made  the  convenient  school  centre  of  said  com- 
munity. This  would  have  its  obvious  advantages  over  the 
bleak  country  cross-roads  where  the  school-house  is  likely  to 
be  nothing  but  "  a  ragged  beggar  sunning."  Its  proximity 
to  the  mail  vvill  be  one  great  advantage.     The  probability  that 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES         103 

one  or  more  railways  would  have  stations  at  the  centre,  with 
their  natural  stimulation  to  thought  and  imagination,  and 
their  social  significance,  will  be  aa  advantage  over  the  usual 
position,  (See  Ch.  i,  i.)  Here  are  advantages,  too,  for  a 
concrete  study  of  the  duties  of  citizenship.  Of  course  the 
object  will  always  be  to  have  this  interest  extend  out  over  the 
whole  district,  but  it  may  be  more  easily  begun  in  a  town  or 
village  because  of  the  greater  concentration  and  richness  of 
municipal  interest.  Here  one  is  sure  to  find  some  ofl&cers  of 
the  peace  and  the  law  which  may  be  used  to  enkindle  a  desire 
to  know  what  the  law,  the  state,  the  community,  the  govern- 
ment, really  are.  Here  we  shall  have  the  telephone,  the  tele- 
graph, the  typewriter,  the  newspaper,  and  the  magazine. 
The  church  is  really  the  religious  centre  of  the  community, 
likely,  and  the  church  can  only  gain  by  the  proximity  of 
the  school.  The  school  will  thus  have  a  far  more  extended 
and  potent  socializing  influence  in  the  community  for  all  these 
reasons.  It  will  make  co-operation  more  easy  by  making  it 
easier  to  get  together  and  more  likely  to  be  profitable  for  the 
people  who  come  together. 

Of  the  atmosphere  of  this  school  of  the  future  little  need 
be  said.  It  will  be  an  atmosphere  different  from  that  in  which 
our  children  now  spend  their  school  days.  It  will  grow  out 
of  the  character  of  the  teaching  force ;  out  of  the  newer 
conception  of  the  purposes  and  value  of  education 
in  a  democratic  society  ;  out  of  a  course  of  study  better  ad- 
apted to  the  children  of  such  schools  ;  out  of  greater  mutual 
confidence  between  parents  and  children  and  the  so-called 
school  authorities.  In  this  school  of  the  future  the  test  of 
teaching  will  be  one's  power  to  cause  the  pupil  to  "  under- 
stand, and  appreciate,  and  react  on  the  resoucres  and  the 
problems  of  modern  civilization.  (123)  The  relation  between 
teacher  and  pupil  in  the  school  of  the  future  will  be  like  that 
which  now  exists  between  the  best  parents  and  their  children, 
or  between  the  best  teachers  and  their  pupils  when  working 
under  conditions  the  most  favorable.  It  will  be  one  of  mutual 
confidence  and  trust.  The  work  of  such  schools  will  not  be 
regarded  so  much  as  a  preparation  for  life  as  an  introduction 
into  life  with  its  rich  store  of  modern  thought,  aspiration,  and 
ideals  of  personal  attainment  and  social  service.  The  teacher, 
so  trained  and  so  inspired,  will  be  like  the  great  Teacher  in  at 
least  one  important  respect.  He  will  be  able  sincerely  and 
reverently  to  say,  "I  have  come  that  ye  might  have 
life  and  that  ye  might  have  it  more  abundantly." 
Such  will  be  real  pedagogues,  teachers,  leaders  of 
the  young.  Between  such  and  their  pupils  there  can  be 
none  but  helpful,   stimulating,   confidence -inspiring  relations. 


104        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

All  schools  need  such  teachers,  and  the  future  will  supply 
them.  Of  course  the  function  of  the  school  and  the  essential 
nature  of  education  will  have  to  be  cleared  up  in  the  minds  of 
parents,  teachers,  and  educational  leaders  before  the  ideal 
community  can  be  formed,  and  thus  bring  in  an  era  of  true 
co-operation  among  all  the  various  persons  that  are  specially 
interested  in  the  training  of  the  young.  But  these  are 
changes  which  the  logic  of  a  true  democratic  society  sooner  or 
later  will  work  out.  Leaders,  inspirers,  and  educational 
prophets  can  hasten  these  changes. 

The  rural  school  of  the  future  will  not  only  be  the  sort 
of  seminary  that  has  thus  far  been  kept  in  mind,  but  it  will 
be  more  and  more  (4)  a  Consolidated  school.  By  this  it  is 
meant  that  a  rural  school  district  more  or  less  extensive  will 
co-operate  to  form  one  enlarged  school  at  some  village  or  town 
as  a  centre  ;  or  that  two  or  more  smaller  districts  conveniently 
located  therefor  will  unite  to  create  a  central  school  which 
shall  belong  mutually  to  all,  and  be  as  good  as  money, 
thought,  skill,  sympathy,  and  co-operation  can  make  it.  It 
will  be  objected  by  many  that  the  distances  are  too  great  for 
any  extensive  consolidation  of  rural  schools  ;  that  it  will 
involve  free  transportation  at  public  expense ;  thereby 
increasing  the  taxes  for  school  purposes  ;  that  the  whole  pro- 
cedure is  in  the  direction  of  socialism  or  social  democracy ; 
that  it  would  rob  the  rural  neighborhood  of  its  only  educa- 
tional interest  and  the  most  distinctive  institution  of  Ameri- 
can rural  life ;  that  it  will  be  a  risky  concentration  of  power 
in  the  hands  of  a  few ;  and  finally  that  it  is  altogether 
un-American,  These  objections  must  be  fairly  met.  It  will 
not  do  to  hurry  over  them  as  though  they  were  not  worthy  of 
serious  attention.  They  must  be  considered  so  far  as  possible 
by  the  statistical  and  experimental  methods.  The  treatment 
of  these  questions  does  not  fall  within  the  sphere  of  this 
study. 

-  What  are  the  advantages  which  such  a  school  as  the  con- 
solidated school  at  its  best  would  possess?  These  will  be 
enumerated  and  discussed  as  follows  :  (a)  The  consolid- 
ated school  will  be  as  thoroughly  graded  as  the  modern  city 
school,  or  the  best  town  school.  We  may  confidently  expect 
that  it  will  avoid  two  evils  of  the  ordinar>  lock-step  system 
of  far  too  many  large  cities.  The  retarding  of  the  brighter 
portion  of  the  school  by  the  requirements  of  a  portion  with 
more  slowly  moving  minds,  and  the  over-stimulation  of  the 
slower  pupils  so  that  by  all  means  they  may  be  brought  up  to 
the  final  passing  grade.  To  these  might  be  added  the  over- 
stimulation of  the  brightest  third  or  fourth  of  the  school  with 
the  ambition  to  work  for  mid-year  or  extra  promotions.     The 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE   tJNITED  STATES      105 

one  plan  renders  the  bright  child  anaemic  and  nervous,  and 
the  other,  discourages  him.  The  usual  treatment  of  the  slow- 
er third  or  fourth  is  little  short  of  a  crime.  An  entirely  new 
attitude  on  the  significance  of  grades  and  examination  marks 
may  be  expected  to  contribute  its  share  towards  the  solution 
of  the  problem. 

Few  will  deny  the  advantages  of  a  well  graded  school. 
"We  have  the  stimulation,  the  added  interest  of  large  numbers 
doing  the  same  sort  of  work  at  the  same  time.  More  subjects 
of  real  value  may  be  taught  to  each  child  all  through  the 
grades.  More  grades  may  be  added,  thus  preparing  the  way 
for  the  rural  school.  This  is  not  only  what  is  going  to 
happen, — it  is  now  resulting  everywhere  that  consolida- 
tion has  been  tried  for  any  time.  It  will  not  be  cut  off  from 
the  chief  interests  of  modern  society  by  an  emphasis  on  mat- 
ters that  for  years  have  been  looked  upon  by  the  masses  with 
ever  decreasing  interest,  not  to  say  aversion  and  distrust. 
The  classics  will  be  taught,  no  doubt,  in  some  rural  high 
schools,  but  not  until  the  people  say  that  they  desire  the 
teaching  of  such  subjects.  The  most  socializing  of  all  insti- 
tutions is  the  public  school  ;  and  the  most  socializing  and  lib- 
eralizing of  all  public  schools,  the  high  school.  The  rural 
high  school  thus  called  into  existence  and  thus  molded  and 
modeled  by  the  best  thought  of  the  country  districts  ought  to 
be  as  socializing  and  as  liberalizing  as  the  not  wholly  trusted 
city  high  school. 

^  Another  great  advantage  is  that  the  consolidated  rural 
school  with  the  rural  high  school  to  which  consolidation  is 
sure  to  give  rise  offers  the  only  practicable  plan  by  which 
country  children  can  be  prepared  cheaply  and  in  large  num- 
bers for  the  higher  institutions.  Only  in  this  way  can  the 
great  handicap  to  which  the  rural  child  is  subjected  be  re- 
moved, and  his  chances  for  all  the  benefits  that  come  from 
'superior  education  and  training  be  made  equal  to  those  of  his 
city  cousin.  Many  of  our  states  are  now  actively  at  work 
through  their  departments  of  public  instruction  to  fill  up  the 
gaps  that  separate  the  college  and  university  from  the  public 
school.  This  can  never  be  accomplished  so  long  as  "  public 
school  "  means  an  ungraded  rural  school,  however  small  the 
attendance  and  the  classes  may  be.  This  newer  rural  school 
will  be  active  in  spreading  the  knowledge  of  the  advantages 
of  higher  education  and  training  for  personal  development 
and  for  all  kinds  of  social  service.  This  will  make  it  as  easy 
for  the  child  of  the  farmer  to  be  prepared  for  college,  the  tech- 
nical school,  or  the  university  as  it  now  is  for  the  child  of  the 
city  merchant  or  physician.  This  will  remove  the  greatest 
intellectual  impediment  to  life  in  the  country.     The  new  rural 


106      THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 

high  school  will  not  only  remove  this  objection  to  rural  life, 
but  it  will  at  the  same  time  stimulate  an  ever  increasing  num- 
ber of  country  children  to  go  on  to  college  and  to  other  higher 
institutions  of  learning,  and  thus  bring  to  bear  upon  the  rural 
problems  the  light  and  learning  of  our  great  university 
centres.  Surely  that  will  be  a  day  worth  living  for  when  in 
every  corner  of  rural  America  there  shall  be  discussed  the 
ideals  and  aims  and  methods  of  true  university  training,  and 
in  every  knot  of  college  students  that  rural  corner  shall  have 
its  representatives.  Then  will  education  play  a  role  in^the 
spiritual  development  of  our  country  districts  that  is  now  not 
even  dreamed  of.  Another  point  of  vital  importance  in  this 
connection  is  the  fact  that  the  families  that  are  least  satisfied 
with  the  educational  and  cultural  advantages  which  rural 
areas  of  our  land  now  provide  are  the  ones  which  the  country 
districts  can  least  afford  to  lose.  It  is  just  these  people  whose 
presence  in  the  country  will  be  sure  to  secure  by  agitation  and 
influence  such  improved  conditions  as  these  districts  need. 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED   STATES      107 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  OF  THE  FUTURB  (Continued) 

In  the  next  place  this  school  will  be  (b)  a  well  supervised 
school.  No  matter  how  well  trained  and  educated  the  teach- 
ers are,  the  school  will  for  a  long  time  to  come  require  expert 
supervision.  There  will  not  need  to  be  any  abrupt  break  in 
the  functions  of  this  official,  but  there  will  be  a  change  in  the 
conception  of  his  work  as  time  goes  on.  The  first  use  of  ed- 
ucational supervision  was  to  secure  the  observance  of  matters 
of  outer  detail,  such  as  promptness  in  school  attendance,  ac- 
curacy in  official  reports  and  in  the  interpretation  of  school 
law  ;  the  second  use  concerned  itself  with  the  observance  of 
matters  of  inner  detail,  such  as  minute  methods  and  teaching 
devices,  rules  for  lesson  reviews,  preparations,  and  previews  ; 
overdrawn  exactness  in  the  application  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
"  five  formal  steps  of  the  recitation  "  ;  and  all  that  pertains  to 
securing  in  the  shortest  time  and  with  the  least  expenditure 
of  energy  what  I  have  elsewhere  termed  the  "  memoriter 
appropriation  "  of  our  over-filled  and  over-elaborated  course 
of  study  ;  the  highest  and  last  function  of  supervision  will  be 
that  which  the  future  school  will  exhibit.  It  will  be  direct- 
ive ;  it  will  be  inspirational ;  it  will  be  co-operative ;  and  it 
will  be  made  effective  and  prevalent  by  the  same  gentle  means 
as  are  employed  in  other  professions  and  in  those  industrial 
establishments  where  skilled  leadership  has  long  counted  for 
so  much.  Supervisory  power  secured  by  any  other  means  or 
exercised  in  any  other  way  should  be  entirely  wanting  in  the 
school  of  the  future  in  a  country  which  does  avowedly,  and 
should  really,  stand  for  freedom  and  liberty. 

This  functional  development  of  school  supervision  corres- 
ponds  closely  to  the  chronological  phases  through  which  it  has 
passed,  or  is  destined  to  pass.  There  are  promising  signs  of 
an  early  escape  from  the  perplexities  of  the  second  stage,  al- 
though in  most  parts  of  our  country  we  have  not  wholly 
emerged  from  the  first  stage  of  supervision.  Three  changes 
must  be  brought  about  before  educational  supervision  can  at- 
tain that  influence  and  power  which  it  should  exert,  and  which 
it  is  destined  to  exert  in  the  school  of  the  future.  First, 
teachers  generally  must  represent  a  higher  stage  of  culture 
and  knowledge,  academic  and  professional  ;  supervisors  must 
be  possessed  of  all  these  elements  in  a  higher  degree  than  they 
now  are,  and  in  addition  thereto  they  must  have  a  background 
of  philosophic  knowledge.  This  will  demand  an  acquaintance 
with  the  history  of  speculative  thought,  and  in  particular  so 
far  as  this  centres  in  the  development  of  the  spirit.     Then 


108      THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES 

they  must  have  the  sociological  standpoint  and  attitude. 
And  the  masses  of  the  people  must  be  brought  to  a  vState  of 
mind  on  all  educational  matters  relatively  as  advanced  as  that 
of  the  teacher  and  the  superintendent.  It  is  easy  to  see  that 
the  supervisory  officer,  possessed  of  such  knowledge  and  such 
insight  into  the  nature  of  society  and  its  deepest  problems, 
and  working  through  such  a  body  of  teachers  as  is  taken  for 
granted,  will  leave  the  device-methods  attitude  and  seek  to 
ground  his  teachers  in  the  principles  involved — that  is,  he  will 
pass  from  the  device  stage  to  the  comparatively  liberalizing 
stage  of  philosophical  principle.  In  his  relations  with  his 
teachers  he  will  be  a  helper  and  an  inspirer.  The  ancient 
Spartans  had  an  important  state  official  whom  they  signifi- 
cantly styled  an  "  inspirer  of  youth."  (124)  There  maybe 
many  inspirers  in  the  future  civilization  of  America,  but  none 
will  be  better  thought  of  than  the  men  and  women  whose  duty 
.  it  shall  be  to  encourage  teachers  and  children  in  the  great 
work  in  which  they  are  engaged.  If  this  function  of  inspira- 
tion was  important  enough  to  lead  the  practical  Spartan  to 
mark  it  off  as  a  specialized  work  of  society,  what  place  should 
it  occupy  in  educational  theory  in  a  country  in  which  the  chief 
aim  is  much  higher  than  mere  military  efficiency  ?  To  his 
teachers  he  will  point  out  those  sources  in  literature,  history, 
science,  and  art,  from  which  one  must  continuallj'  draw  light 
and  knowledge  if  he  would  be  efficient  in  the  broadest  way,  if 
he  would  postpone  to  the  last  the  advent  of  that  senile  state 
of  mind  in  which  the  easy  adaptations  of  youth  are  impossible 
and  the  suspended  judgments  of  virile  manhood  are  unknown. 
If  the  future  school  can  call  into  existence  an  officer  that  can 
inspire  and  rejuvenate  and  encourage  those  who  are,  in  the 
largest  sense,  to  bear  the  burdens  of  an  exacting  school  sys- 
tem he  will  be  doing  the  greatest  service  for  society.  In  his 
relations  with  his  pupils  he  will  be  a  directive,  an  encouraging, 
a  helpful  force.  He  will  aid  the  teacher,  and  go  beyond  her 
in  leading  each  young  person  to  the  discovery  of  himself.  He 
will  be  an  able  counselor  in  the  choice  of  avocation.  He  will 
aid  each  child  to  gain  the  mastery  over  his  environment  and 
over  himself. 

It  will  be  noted  in  connection  with  these  broader  func- 
tions of  the  educational  leader,  that  his  work  does  not  end 
with  the  close  of  the  school  day.  In  his  social,  or  extra- 
scholastic,  or  extra-professional,  relations  with  the  commun- 
ity his  influence  upon  and  his  service  for  it  will  be  greater,  if 
possiuie,  man  m  ma  aisimctive  sphere.  For  in  his  broader 
relations  he  is  dealing  with  those  social  forces  and  influences 
whicb  pre  continnn'h'  molding  the  school  from  without.  So 
that  if  the  state  of  the  future  is  to  be  a  cultured  state,  i.  e., 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED  STATES      109 

a  state  whose  predominant  interest  is  to  spread  culture  and 
learning,  understood  in  their  broadest  connotation,  the  mis- 
sion of  educational  leadership  in  the  future,  as  will  be  readily- 
seen,  will  be  a  leadership  of  increasing  power  and  significance. 
(126) 

The  rural  school  of  the  future  will  have  (c)  architectural 
and  hygenienic  features  far  superior  to  those  of  the  isolated 
rural  school.  More  money  will  be  available,  better  immediate 
surroundings  can  be  selected,  probably  in  the  outer  edge  of 
the  town  or  the  village,  in  a  natural  or  a  gradually  developed 
park.  The  school-house  will  be  built  with  due  reference  to 
proper  exposure,  having  the  direct  sunlight  in  every  room. 
Its  heating,  ventilation,  water  supply,  etc.,  will  be  planned 
with  as  much  scientific  precision  as  the  best  office  buildings, 
churches,  and  schools  in  the  most  progressive  cities  now  rep- 
resent. Regard  will  be  had  to  beauty  as  well  as  to  utility. 
Consolidation  of  smaller  schools  will  make  it  possible  to  pro- 
vide at  a  minimal  expense  for  all  those  accessories  of  a  mod- 
ern education, — scientific  laboratories,  physical  training  rooms, 
an  art  room,  fitted  up  with  simple  copies  of  the  great  master- 
pieces in  painting  and  statuary.  It  would  be  quite  possible 
to  provide  a  music  room  to  be  supplied  with  an  organ,  a  piano, 
violins,  cornets,  a  'cello,  a  bass  viol,  and  the  like.  This 
would  serve  as  the  nucleus  of  a  school  orchestra,  and  with  a 
comparatively  short  period  of  training  it  could  play  for  the 
opening  exercises,  for  the  different  school  gatherings,  and 
even  for  summer  picnics  if  these  picnics  were  of  general  inter- 
est. This  would  add  to  country  life  some  of  the  culture  and 
features  of  the  best  city  life,  and  nothing  here  suggested  is 
beyond  the  range  of  a  progressive  community.  Then,  too, 
there  ought  to  be  a  shop  which  would  answer  every  purpose  of 
a  manual  training  department,  and  might  be  more  inviting  to 
the  country  boy  or  girl  if  so  named.  Here  these  young  people 
would  be  brought  into  contact  with  the  problems  of  actual 
construction,  involving  accurately  co-ordinated  muscular 
movement,  and  requiring  a  trained  eye,  a  steady  hand,  a  keen 
intellect,  and,  above  all  else,  lively,  inventive  insight. 

Another  advantage  possessed  by  the  rural  school  here 
conceived  will  be  (d)  its  experimental  contact  under  trained 
agricultural  leadership  with  the  various  phases  and  problems 
of  farming.  The  trend  of  this  expenmental  study  should  take 
its  departure  from  the  character  and  needs  of  each  particular 
locality.  There  will  be  a  foundation  of  knowledge  which  is 
prerequisite  for  any  sort  of  life;  and  then  the  demands  of 
each  locality  as  determined  by  its  chief  occupations  will  give 
rise  to  the  higher  course  of  study  best  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
that  community.     In  order  that  this  latter   study  may  be  of 


110      THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

true  scientific  value  it  must  be  in  the  form  of  experiments 
performed  under  conditions  that  can  be  controlled  and  min- 
utely described.  This  will  make  it  possible  for  the  first  ex- 
perimenter to  repeat  them  and  for  other  scientists  to  perform 
them  under  like  conditions.  Otherwi.se  all  this  e<perimenting 
might  be  performed  by  each  student  on  his  father's  farm. 
Gardening,  fruit-raising  (large  and  small),  grain  farming, 
grazing,  dairying,  etc.,  should  be  part  of  the  course 
of  study  in  the  upper  grades  of  the  grammar  .school 
and  in  the  high  school  in  all  communities  where  these 
special  industries  are  important.  In  so  far  as  possible  this 
study  should  be  in  field,  orchard,  dairy,  and  truck-patch.  It 
will  be  quite  possible  to  get  rural  districts  to  set  aside  land 
enough  for  the  purposes  above  named  and  to  put  it  in  good 
condition.  Such  a  farm  on  which  half  of  the  work  might  be 
done  by  the  advanced  students  of  those  subjects,  could  be 
made  to  produce  a  fair  return  on  the  investment,  for  the  work 
could  be  carried  on  in  accordance  with  the  most  approved 
methods,  as  well  as  in  accordance  with  the  demands  of  a  wise 
econom}',  scientific  result  and  educational  benefit  upon  the 
whole  community.  This  would  give  us  the  combined  benefits 
of  the  present  school  garden  and  the  agricultural  experiment 
station — the  interest  of  child's  play  added  to  the  profit  of  in- 
telligent adult  activity.  This  blending  of  the  intellectual,  the 
manual,  and  the  industrial  would  give  us  much  of  the  best 
that  is  pictured  to  us  as  the  contribution  of  the  most  promis- 
ing schools  of  our  day — those  experiment  stations  of  educa- 
tion, Abbotsholme,  Iv'Ecole  des  Roches,  Dr.  lyietz's  School  in 
the  Hartz  Mountains,  Mr.  Badley's  School  at  Petersfield,  and 
Mr.  Devine's  at  Clayesmore.  (127)  We  should  then  have 
a  school  and  a  system  of  education  which  by  the  most  prog- 
ressive and  inspired  minds  have  been  held  up  to  us  as  ideals — 
a  harmonious  education  of  head  and  hand  and  heart  acquired 
in  the  midst  of  beautiful  natural  scenery  where  one  is  exempt 
from  those  baneful  influences  which  everywhere  mark  crowded 
city  life.  And  yet  this  rural  school,  if  it  is  to  approach  to 
ideal  conditions  must  not  be  without  the  sharpening  of  the 
intellect,  that  refinement  of  manners  and  bearing  that  gentle- 
manly polish  which  almost  from  the  dawn  of  history  have 
been  attributed  to  city  life.  Such  was  the  ideal  of  Goethe 
when  in  the  'Waiidcrjahre  of  Wilhehn  Meisterhe  describes  the 
Pedagogic  Province.  (126)  Here  we  cannot  help  but  note 
with  what  a  master  hand  he  has  laid  under  tribute  country 
life,  air  and  freedom  ;art,  which  is  more  particularly  an  urban 
product;  literature  with  the  dramatic  treatment  of  events  and 
scenes  ;  the  languages,  learned  under  the  pre.ssure  of  a  pow- 
erful motive  ;  and   country   occupations   and  amusements  in 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN  THE  UNITED   STATES      HI 

order  that  he  might  give  us  this  delightful  foreglean  of  what 
opportunities  the  country  really  affords  for  an  ideal  education. 
To  this  we  shall  have  to  add  one  supplemental  lesson,  viz., 
that  outlay  for  the  culture  of  men  and  women  and  children  is 
a  better  permanent  investment  than  our  far  greater  outlay  for 
fine  cattle,  for  horses,  for  fine  landscapes,  beautiful  homes, 
fine  vehicles  and  expensive  menus. 

4.  The  next  major  division  of  the  subject  concerns 
itself  with  the  teacher  of  the  rural  school  of  the  future.  Our 
studies  in  the  earlier  chapters  and  in  the  middle  of  the  present 
one  furnish  us  the  groundwork  for  a  conception  of  what  this 
teacher  should  be.  I  think  we  have  suflScient  ground  for  the 
statement  that  the  teachers  in  the  rural  school  of  the 
future  will  be  more  and  more  college  graduates,  or  those  who 
have  a  substantial  equivalent  therefor.  The  present  trend  in 
the  curricula  of  our  colleges  and  universities  warrants  us  in 
the  belief  that  this  will  stand  for  a  splendid  general  education 
and  a  more  detailed  acquaintance  with  some  particular  field  of 
human  research.  He  will,  of  course,  be  a  professionally  train- 
ed man  or  woman,  and  this  part  of  his  equipment  he  may 
secure  either  at  the  same  institution  or  in  a  superior  normal 
school  of  which  we  shall  probably  have  many  in  the  future. 
His  education  will  give  him  acquaintance  with  the  main 
epochs  in  the  history  of  culture  and  the  development  of  spec- 
ulative thought.  Under  this  will  be  included  the  history  ot 
education  both  on  its  theoretical,  or  Utopian  side,  and  on  its 
practical  side  which  concerns  itself  with  real  systems  and  the 
work  of  actual  educators.  He  must  be  equipped,  further, 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  teachings  of  psychol- 
ogy ;  and  with  the  chief  forms  of  social  institutions  and  social 
forces  and  social  reactions.  This  is  not  a  visionary  scheme, 
but  rather  a  restimi  of  what  the  leading  writers  on  educational 
matters  so  far  as  the  preparation  of  teachers  is  concerned,  are 
now  holding  up  before  \X9 — in  fact  what  the  best  superintend- 
ents are  now  demanding  of  applicants  for  high  school  positions 
and  for  supervisory  positions  of  all  kinds,  when 
they  can  make  these  demands  effective.  This  does 
not  presuppose  a  term  of  professional  preparation 
out  of  all  proportion  to  that  which  is  demanded  in  other  pro- 
fessions, and  it  will  not  be  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  salary 
paid.  It  may  not  be  a  severer  requirement  than  we  now 
make  of  the  physician  and  the  lawyer  in  the  largest  cities,  or 
of  the  minister  in  the  largest  churches.  There  is  a  growing 
tendency  in  the  preparation  of  the  minister  to  place  a  new 
and  increasing  emphasis  upon  psychological,  sociological, 
and  pedagogical  study,  to  give  the  young  clergyman,  if 
nothing  else,  a  right  attitude  toward  his  problems  and  towards 


112      THE   RURAL  SCHOOL    IN   THE   UNITED  STATES 

the  people  met  in  masses  ;  and  to  give  him  a  background  and 
a  basis  for  his  work  of  philanthropy,  social  reform,  or  relig- 
ious education  and  evangelization.  The  teacher's  need  is  not 
less  for  this  sort  of  background  and  insight. 

There  is  one  qualification  for  which  I  should  expect  the 
patrons  of  the  rural  school  of  the  future  to  be  especially 
insistent, — viz.,  sympathy  with  country  life,  country  affairs, 
aims,  and  interests.  This  should  not  be  a  sentimental  sym- 
pathy, but  an  intelligent  one,  a  sympathy  based  on  knowl- 
edge and  insight.  To  this  end  I  think  it  would  be  a  good 
thing  for  the  teacher  in  such  a  school  to  be  in  possession  or 
control  af  a  sufficient  area  of  land  to  occupy  a  part  of  his  rec- 
reation hours,  as  much  of  them  as  he  might  care  to  use  in 
that  way.  There  is  no  over-estimating  the  value  of  such 
extra-professional  employment  on  the  part  of  the  rural  school 
teacher  for  bringing  him  into  rapport  with  his  students  and 
with  the  whole  rural  community.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  this  was  one  strong  bond  of  union  between  Christian 
ministers  of  an  earlier  day  and  their  congregations.  Most  of 
them  had  as  a  perquisite  of  their  position  a  small  area  of 
ground  on  which  they  raised  the  vegetables  necessary  for 
family  use,  and  often  enough  corn  and  hay  to  feed  the  horse 
and  cow.  All  this  put  the  clergyman  and  his  family  into  the 
closest  touch  with  their  parishioners,  for  it  built  up  communi- 
ty of  interest  and  sympathy.  It  paved  the  way  for  more 
pleasant  and  profitable  pastoral  visits  because  of  this  common 
interest  and  the  common  point  of  contact. 

At  this  point  it  is  necessary  to  point  out  a  grave  danger, 
which  is  that  the  minister  or  the  rural  teacher,  instead  of 
making  it  purely  recreative,  might  become  so  much  engrossed 
in  his  avocation  as  to  have  it  encroach  seriously  upon  the  time 
and  energy  and  freshness  and  interest  which  ought  in  all  fair- 
ness to  be  reserved  for  the  attainment  of  vocational  ends — 
chiefly  vocational  efficiency  and  effective  .social  service.  It 
would  seem  that  the  highest  possible  end  of  such  petty  land 
culture  as  is  here  contemplated  would  be  attained  if  there 
were  a  blending,  in  about  equal  proportions,  of  the  recreative, 
the  aesthetic,  and  the  utilitarian  elements. 

5.  The  final  topic  of  this  chapter  concerns  itself  with  the 
schoolhouse  in  all  its  parts  and  the  extra-scholastic  uses  to 
which  it  will  be  put,  when  the  rural  school  shall  have  reached 
its  period  of  fullest  development.  The  location  and  site  most 
suitable  for  this  school  have  been  briefly  pointed  out  in  pre- 
vious connections.  A  location  and  a  site  that  would  be  rec- 
ommended to  the  most  wealthy  citizen  of  the  community 
would  be  good  enough  for  the  rural  school  of  the  future. 
For,  as  Goethe  says,  "  the  best  is  good  enough  for  children." 


THE    RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED  STATES    113 

The  best  site  available  in  each  community  is  not  too  good  for 
this  purpose.  In  the  ornamentation  of  the  grounds,  the  best 
features  now  followed  in  the  best  schools  of  our  day  are  not 
better  than  each  community  ought  to  be  inspired  to  provide 
for  the  grounds  of  its  school.  As  yet  we  have  not  worked 
out  the  psychology  of  natural  environment  in  a  scheme  of 
general  education.  Only  a  few  great  leaders  such  as  Goethe 
and  Froebel  have  had  any  adequate  appreciation  of  its  value  ; 
and  only  a  few  practical  school  men  have  realized  their  impor- 
tance and  selected  their  school  location  accordingly.  As  yet 
all  these  schools  are  private. 

The  school  building  of  the  future  rural  school  will  be 
provided  with  features  of  which  we  can  now  probably  imagine 
only  a  part.  In  the  first  place  it  will  be  provided  with  an 
assembly  hall  and  all  the  appurtenances  belonging  thereto. 
This  will  be  used  for  purposes,  many  and  various.  Among 
the  more  suggestive  uses  of  this  hall  are  the  following  :  Illus- 
trated lectures  on  science,  on  travels,  on  art,  on  agricultural 
problems  and  studies  ;  musical  concerts  by  local  and  imported 
talent  ;  the  Grange  meetings  of  the  neighborhood  ;  the  Bible, 
or  Sunday  School  of  the  community  ;  choral  unions,  or  singing 
societies  ;  the  regular  opening  exercises  of  all  the  rooms  ;  as  a 
music  room  to  be  used  for  private  or  class  instruction  after 
school  or  on  Saturdays  ;  school  board  meetings  to  be  attended 
by  all  who  desire  ;  neighborhood  meetings  of  all  descriptions, 
whether  social,  intellectual,  or  cultural  ;  farmers'  institutes 
and  congresses  ;  receptions  under  many  auspices,  only  provid- 
ing that  sectarian  and  political  animosities  and  hatreds  shall 
never  be  the  possible  results  of  any  such  gatherings  ;  school 
receptions  of  all  kinds.  The  benefits  of  all  such  meetings  to 
a  rural  community  are  so  evident  upon  first  glance  as  to  re- 
quire no  discussion  in  this  connection.  Such  functions, 
generally  participated  in  by  the  people  of  a  community  would 
indicate  one  of  the  two  things  :  first,  that  the  community  was 
an  ideal  community  from  the  standpoint  of  intelligence  and 
social  development,  or  that  it  was  destined  in  the  nature  of 
the  case  speedily  to  become  an  ideal  community  in  these 
respects. 

Another  important  adjunct  of  the  future  rural  school  will 
be  the  school  library.  This  could  be  housed  either  in  one  of 
the  small  rooms  near  the  assembly  room  or  in  a  larger  room 
still  more  convenient  of  access.  But  it  would  be  a  mistake 
not  to  have  the  books  of  the  library  in  the  closest  possible 
touch  with  the  school  and  all  the  work  of  the  school.  The 
library  should  be  carefully  catalogued  so  as  to  show  at  a  glance 
what  it  contains  on  any  given  subject,  and  this  catalogue 
should  contain  the  most  important  magazine  articles  on  those 


114        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

subjects  which  are  of  the  most  interest  to  the  citizens  of  a 
rural  community.  If  put  into  good  running  order  by  one 
thoroughly  familiar  with  library  economy,  the  children  could 
be  led  to  co-operate  in  the  control  of  the  library  and  to  do  a 
large  part  of  the  work  connecting  with  the  issuance  and  care 
of  the  books. 

Real  talent  is  needed  to  select  the  sort  of  books  that  will 
best  suit  the  wants  of  the  community  and  at  the  same  time 
not  run  the  costs  up  higher  than  the  resources  will  allow.  As 
time  goes  on  we  shall  have  an  increasing  number  of  suggest- 
ive lists  for  such  libraries.  In  fact  we  have  some  valuable 
suggestions  of  this  sort  now.  What  is  said  here  will  be  of  a 
general  nature,  and  should  be  read  in  connection  with  the 
lists  of  books  for  such  uses,  which  various  state  and  county 
superintendents  have  been  preparing  and  publishing  for  some 
time.  It  would  seem  that  the  core  of  the  library  should  com- 
prise the  classics  of  all  literatures,  made  accessible  by  the  best 
translations  if  not  originally  written  in  English.  Among 
these  would  fall  the  epic  poems  ;  the  chief  dramatic  works 
from  those  of  ^schylus  to  those  of  Stephen  Phillips  ;  the 
lesser  poets  and  the  historians  ;  the  best  of  those  writers 
whose  work  concerns  itself  with  science  and  nature  ;  histori- 
cal books  on  the  great  cultural  peoples  who.se  mission  it  has 
been  to  give  us  either  the  seed  thoughts  of  our  civilization  or 
the  form  of  it  ;  works  on  those  sciences  that  are  contributory 
to  the  science  of  agriculture,  such  as  physics,  chemistrj',  bot- 
any, and  geology  ;  works  on  physiology,  anatomy,  biology, 
and  the  chemistry  of  foods  ;  books  on  all  pha.ses  of  agricul- 
ture, such  as  those  found  in  the  Country  Home  Library,  and 
similar  collections;  an  ample  assortment  on  biography,  always 
including  the  greatest  Americans  ;  a  collection  on  government 
and  the  stale,  its  nature,  functions  and  duties  under  a  demo- 
cratic rigiine ;  a  small  number  on  the  leading  municipal 
problems ;  works  on  economics  and  .sociology  in  so  far  as 
these  subjects  are  adapted  to  .schools  of  this  grade  ;  treatises 
on  the  fine  arts  ;  magazines  and  periodicals  none  being  taken 
that  are  not  worth  binding  and  keeping  ;  general  reference 
books,  such  as  dictionaries,  encj'clopaedias,  atlases  and  gazet- 
teers. A  few  books  of  purely  compiled  contents  may  be  al- 
lowed, but  many  books  of  this  description  will  give  the  library 
the  air  of  superficiality  and  cheapness.  It  is  a  great  shame 
that  in  so  many  public  school  libraries  these  books  take  the 
place  of  complete  works  in  the  exact  language  of  the  masters 
of  style.  For  the  purposes  of  a  rural  .school  library  it  is  not 
necessary  that  the  books  should  be  expen.sive  editions,  when 
there  are  so  many  cheap  editions  that  are  quite  well  gotten  up 
and  legibly  printed.     If  the  funds  really  warrant  such  choice. 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES         115 

of  course  the  better  editions  are  to  be  preferred.  If  a  school 
committee  had,  say,  $ioo  with  which  to  begin  the  library  of 
a  rural  school,  it  would  be  much  better  to  spend  a  large  part 
of  it  for  the  cheap  editions  that  would  constitute  a  richer 
collection  of  bookh  than  to  put  nearly  all  of  it  in  expensive 
editions,  which  would  give  the  library  such  limited  propor- 
tions for  a  whole  year.  Nearly  all  the  great  classics  are  avail- 
able in  editions  ranging  in  cost  from  ten  cents  to  a  dollar. 
Many  of  the  shorter  classics  can  be  had  still  cheaper  in 
pamphlet  form,  with  good  paper  and  printing,  and  housed  in 
pamphlet  boxes  made  for  that  purpose.  This  I  have  seen 
done  very  successfully,  where  the  cataloguing  and  shelf- 
marking  were  carefully  and  thoroughly  done.  In  science, 
history,  biography,  art,  and  current  literature  good  standard 
library  editions  have  to  be  purchased.  Such  a  library  as  is 
here  kept  in  mind,  varying  from  looo  to  1500  books  and 
pamphlets,  I  have,  with  the  assistance  of  eificient  committees, 
several  times  selected,  housed,  and  catalogued  according  to 
the  latest  methods  for  such  small  libraries,  and  put  them  into 
successful  operation  at  an  expense  varying  from  $300  to  $500. 
As  soon  as  serious  work  in  the  foreign  languages  is  attempted 
in  the  rural  high  school,  there  should  be  added  to  the  library 
a  few  well  chosen  texts,  masterpieces,  and  dictionaries  for 
each  language  that  is  taught,  together  with  histories  and  rel- 
iable studies  of  the  several  peoples  where  language  is  studied. 
It  helps  to  create  the  atmosphere  of  the  given  language. 

If  one  more  word  were  to  be  added  on  the  question  of 
the  relation  between  the  school  work  and  the  library,  which 
is  a  very  important  one,  it  would  be  this.  Too  much  atten- 
tion can  not  be  called  to  thenecessit}^  of  learning  to  use  books 
of  general  reference  quickly,  accurately,  and  in  a  manner  ef- 
fective for  the  purpo.se  in  hand.  The  general  helplessness  of 
pupils  of  iiigh  school  grade  in  the  presence  of  a  large  number 
of  books  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  character  of  our  work  in 
the  library  department.  If  part  of  the  time  now  spent  in  the 
solution  of  extra  problems — of  "  riders" — in  mathematics  or 
the  mathematical  sciences — were  set  aside  for  the  right  kind 
of  drill  in  the  proper  use  of  the  school  library,  the  pupils 
would  have  a  better  return  for  their  expenditure  of  time  and 
energy.  Discipline  is  not  to  be  despised,  even  when  it  is 
gained  in  the  pursuit  of  purel)'  theoretical  problems  ;  but  one 
may  gain  discipline  at  the  same  time  that  he  is  working  out 
matters  of  immediate  practical  interest. 

Another  feature  of  the  future  rural  school  will  be  its  close 
connection  with  the  library  system  of  the  state  in  which  it  is 
located,  through  the  circulating  library  department.  This  is 
now  a  regular  department  of  the  educational  work  of  a  rapid- 


116        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ly  increasing  number  of  our  states.  This  brings  even  the 
ungraded  rural  school  into  potential  touch  with  the  latest  and 
best  in  all  kinds  of  books.  What  can  be  done  through  this 
department  of  library  work  for  the  rural  school  when  consoli- 
dation shall  have  done  its  work,  and  thus  rendered  it  possible 
for  each  centre  asking  for  the  loan  of  books  from  the  free 
traveling  library  department  to  give  out  an  increasing  number 
of  books?  This  would  be  a  double  improvement;  it  would 
enrich  the  library  work  in  each  borrowing  school  by  making 
it  possible  to  get  a  larger  assortment,  and  it  would  make  it 
possible  for  state  authorities  to  keep  up  with  the  latest  and 
best  things  in  their  purchases  of  books  by  making  it  unneces- 
sary to  purchase  so  many  multiple  copies  of  certain  standard 
works.  With  the  extension  of  such  educational  auxiliaries  to 
these  rural  centres,  university  extension  work  could  be  carried 
on  as  successfully  in  the  country  districts  as  it  is  now  in 
cities,  unless  it  should  be  in  the  one  item  of  comparative  inac- 
cessibility for  the  great  lecturers  who  must  cover  great  dis- 
tances in  the  shortest  time.  There  would  be  no  other  draw- 
back unless  it  were  the  long  distances  the  farmers  would  have 
to  travel  to  reach  the  rural  school  centre.  The  rapid  exten- 
sion of  the  trolley  railway  will  do  away  with  this  and  other 
inconveniences  which  are  now  incident  to  life  in  the  country. 

Still  another  adjunct  of  the  future  rural  school  will  be  the 
art  room  with  its  art  collection.  This  can  be  supplied  with 
reproductions  of  paintings  and  sculpture,  of  different  grades 
and  varieties,  at  prices  within  the  limit  of  legitimate  expendi- 
ture for  the  enrichment  of  rural  school  art.  Some  busts  and 
small  statuary  could  be  included  in  the  collection,  but  most  of 
the  money  should  go  for  copies  of  famous  paintings,  pictures 
of  famous  statuary  and  of  the  world's  greatest  architecture. 
These  may  all  be  arranged  according  to  schools  of  art,  or 
countries,  or  in  chronological  order.  Of  many  or  all  of  these, 
slides  should  be  made  or  secured  so  that  this  rich  material 
could  be  used  for  occasional  lectures  and  talks  in  the  assembly 
room.  The  invention  of  the  reflectoscope  makes  it  possible  to 
use  in  this  way  pictures  found  in  books,  in  magazines,  or  in 
old  catalogues.  Collections  of  pictures  from  discarded  maga- 
zines and  old  books  can  be  accumulated  and  kept  in  reserve 
for  such  uses,  while  the  good  small  reproductions  of  the  great 
masterpieces  may  be  used  in  the  same  way.  Thus  the  realm 
of  art  in  two  oi  its  most  universal  forms  can  be  brought  into 
close  touch  with  every-day  country  life  and  thought. 

Besides  all  this,  at  a  small  expense  required  to  make  it 
possible  to  convert  the  assembly  room  into  a  dark  room  even 
by  day,  this  whole  mass  of  material  could  be  made  to  contrib- 
ute its  light  upon  the  daily  school  work  in  literature,  science, 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL.  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES         117 

history,  and  art.  If  the  stereopticon  is  a  necessary  adjunct  of 
the  best  city  high  and  grammar  schools  it  is  even  more  so  in 
the  work  of  the  corresponding  schools  in  the  country.  No 
one  change  that  could  be  made  in  the  rural  school  would 
wholly  redeem  the  country  child  from  the  dreary  round  of  un- 
profitable, cheerless,  and  uninspiring  school  room  "  learning 
and  reciting,"  but  one  great  need  is  just  such  a  contact  with 
the  great  world  of  creative  art  in  its  varied  forms  as  this  use 
of  the  stereopticon  and  reflectoscope  would  give. 

In  the  last  place  there  will  be  a  properly  equipped  school 
kitchen  in  connection  with  every  up-to-date  rural  consolidated 
school.  The  purposes  of  this  department  of  future  rural 
school  development  will  be  in  part  as  follows  :  (i)  occasional 
demonstrations  and  conferences  in  the  science  and  art  of  cook- 
ing ;  (2)  more  practical,  regular,  and  methodically  progressive, 
work  in  this  branch  of  domestic  economy,  for  the  girls  of 
grammar  and  high  school  grades  ;  (3)  purposes  still  more 
practical  on  reception  occasions,  at  the  social  gatherings  of  the 
community  ;  (4)  to  serve  lunches  and  so  on  for  attendants  on 
gatherings  lasting  several  sessions,  as  farmers'  institutes,  and 
educational  meetings,  if  these  are  ever  held  separately  in  those 
days  when  the  rural  school  shall  have  become  an  institution 
of  splendid  efficiency. 


118        THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Reference  List 

The  following  are  the  books,  articles,  reports,  studies,  etc.,  to 

which  reference  is  made  in  the  foregoing  chapters: 

(1)  Boston  University  Catalogue,  1898-'9.  Announcement  of 
Work  in   Latin. 

(  2)  M.  V.  O'Shea:  Education  as  Adjustment,  pp.  42  et  seq. 
New  York,  1903.  A  good  book  from  an  entirely  modern 
point  of  view  in  education. 

(  3)  G.  T.  Fairchild:  Rural  Wealth  and  Welfare,  p.  17.  Mac- 
millan  Co.,  New  York. 

(  4)  Contemporary  files  of  the  Rural  Register,  Baltimore;  ditto  of 
the  Scientific  American  and  of  other  magazines  and  papers. 

(  5)  Mrs.  B.  Bosanquet:  The  Standard  of  Life  and  Other  Studies, 
p.  31.  MacMillan  Co.,  London.  Reports  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Vol.  I,  pp.  118  et  seq. 

(  6)  Alfred  Marshall:  Principles  of  Political  Economy,  Vol.  I, 
p.  777.     MacMillan  Co.,  London. 

(  7)  J.  M.  Baldwin:  Handbook  of  Psychology,  Senses  and  Intel- 
lect, p.  192.  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York.  Mental  Development, 
Chs.  VI,  X,  XI,  XII.  MacMillann,  N.  Y.  Social  and 
Ethical  Interpretations,  Chs.  I,  II,  XIII.  MacMillan  Co., 
New  York. 
Boris  Sidis:  Psychology  of  Suggestion,  Chs,  I-V.  Apple- 
ton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

(  8)  New  International  Encyclopedia,  sub  verbis,  "Patrons  of 
Husbandry." 

(  9)     C.  S.  Walker:   Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political 
and  Social  Science,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  790  et  seq. 
M.   G.   Tarde:    Lois  de  L'  Imitation.    Paris,   1890.     Social 
Laws.     New  York,  1898. 

(10)    Florence  J.  Foster :  The  same  volume  as  above,  pp.  798  et  seq. 

(11  ">  D.  J.  Crosby:  Organization  and  Work  of  Agric.  Exper.  Sta- 
tions in  the  United  States,  pp.  22, 23.  U.  S.  Dept.  of 
Agriculture. 

(12)  True  and  Crosby:    AmeHcan  System  of  Agricultural  Educa- 

tion, p.  5.     U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture. 

(13)  Crosby:    Special  and  Short  Courses  in  American  Colleges, 

p.  7.     U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture. 

(14)  A.   C.   True:    Progress  of  Agricultural  Education,  1903,  p, 

571.     U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture. 

(15)  A.  C.  True:    The  same  work,  p.  572. 

(16)  Hamilton:     The   Farmers'   Institute   in   the    United  States, 

1903,  pp.  686-687.     U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture. 

(17)  The  Brownsville   (Pa.)   Weekly  Monitor,  March  3,  1905. 

(18)  J.  S.  Mill:   Principles  of  Political  Economy,  Bk.  II,  Chs.  VI-X. 

Longmans. 

(19)  Commercial  Gazette,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  Jan.  19,  1905. 

(20)  J.  S.  Mill:    Principles  of  Political  Economy,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  XII. 

(21)  F.  H.  Giddings:    Principles  of  Sociology,  pp.  203-307.    Mac- 

Millan. 
G.  S.  Hall:    Adolescence,  Vol.  II,  pp.  430-432.     Appleton. 
William  James:    Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  pp.  430- 

432.     Holt  &  Co. 

(22)  James:    Op.  cit..  Vol.  I,  pp.  429-430. 

(23)  G.  T.  Nesmyth:    The  Problem  of  the  Rural  Community,  with 

Special  Reference   to   the   Rural  Church  in  America,  in 
American  Journal  of  Sociology,  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  812  et  seq.; 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL    IN    THE   UNITED  STATES      119 

Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Reports,  Vol.  I, 
p.  34;  Vol.  II,  p.  30  and  p.  160. 
James:    Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  pp.  408,  409,  422, 
425,  439. 

(24)  Henry  Barnard:    Journal  of  Education,  Vol.  XXIV,  p.  225. 

(25)  Same  work  and  volume,  p.  226. 

(26)  Clifton  Johnson:    Old-Time  Schools  and  School  Books,  p.  36. 

Appleton. 

(27)  Wickersham:    History  of  Education  in  Pennsylvania,  Ch.  IX, 

on  the  Schools  of  our  Forefathers.     Lancaster,  Pa.     In- 
quirer Pub.  Co.,  1885. 

(28)  A.  P.  Marble:    Sanitary  Conditions  for  Schoolhouses,  p.  7. 

Cir.  of  Inf.,  No.  3,  1891.    U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education. 

(29)  Walter  Sargent:   Evolution  of  the  Little  Red  Schoolhouse,  in 

School  Review,  Vol.  XI,  p.  436. 

(30)  W.   T.   Harris:     What  Shall  the  Public  Schools   Teach?  in 

Educational  Review,  Vol.  IV,  p.  578. 

(31)  Qt.  Journal  of  Economics,  Vol.   IV,  p.  408;   Larouse's  Dic- 

tionaire   Universelle;  and  the  best  Encyclopedias  on  the 
life  and  work  of  this  truly  great  scientist,  Le  Play. 

(32)  J.  H.  U. :    Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science,  11th 

Series,  Nos.  VII-VIII. 

(33)  John  Dewey:    Are  the  Schools  Doing  What  the  People  Want 

Them  to  Do?  in  the  Educational  Review,  Vol.  IV,  p.  473. 

(34)  Report  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  1888-1889,  Vol.  1, 

p.   150. 

(35)  Levi  Seeley:    The  German  School  System,  pp.  91-99.     E.  L. 

Kellogg  &  Co.,  New  York. 

(36)  Report   U.   S.   Commissioner  of  Education,  1888-'9,  Vol.  I, 

p.  59. 

(37)  J.  M.  Rice:    The  Futility  of  the  Spelling  Grind,  Forum,  Vol. 

XXIII,  p.  163  and  p.  408. 

(38)  0.  P.  Cornman:    Spelling  in  the  Elementary  Schools.     Ginn 

&  Co.,  Boston. 

(39)  Report  of  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  1888-'9,  Vol.  I, 

p.  60. 

(40)  Report  of  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  1902,  Vol.  I, 

pp.  XII,  LXXVII. 

(41)  Seeley:    Op.  cit.,  p.  158. 

(42)  Same  work,  p.  61. 

(43)  Same  work,  p.  164. 

(44)  Same  work,   pp.   157-158. 

(45)  Report   U.    S.   Commissioner  of   Education,   1894-'5,   Vol.   I, 

p.  381. 

(46)  Report  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  1901,  Vol.  I,  p.  33. 

(47)  Seeley:    German  School  System,  p.  57. 

(48)  Pennsylvania  School  Report,  1903,  p.  751. 

(48a)    Census    Statistics    of    Teachers,    Dept.    of    Commerce    and 
Labor,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  the  Census,  1905,  p.  13. 

(49)  Report  of  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  .Education,  1888-'9,  Vol.  1, 

p.  37. 

(50)  Same  work,  p.  39. 

(51)  Same  work,  p.  43. 

(52)  Same  work,  p.  44. 

(53)  Same  work,  p.  71. 

(54)  Jas.  E.  Russell:    The  German  Higher  Schools,  pp.  410,411. 

Longmans,  New  York.     Cf.  also  F.  E.  Bolton:    The  Sec- 
ondary School  System  of  Germanny,  Ch.  II.    Appleton. 


120      THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES 

Levi  Seeley:    The  German  School  System,  Chs.  XX-XXVL 
E.  L.  Kellogg  &  Co. 

(55)  New  Jersey  School  Report,  1903,  pp.  XV,  XVII. 

(56)  Indiana  School  Report,  1902,  p.  727. 

(57)  New  York  School  Report,  1903,  XCVI. 

(58)  Indiana  School  Report,  1902,  pp.  658-666. 

(59)  Vernon  L.  Davey:    Course  of  Study  for  the  Schools  of  East 

Orange,  N.  J.,  1902,  p.  152. 

(60)  G.  I.  Goodrich:   Course  of  Study  for  the  Schools  of  Brookline, 

Mass.,  1903,  p.  40. 

(61)  Randall  Spaulding:    Course  of  Study,  Montclair,  N.  J.,  1903, 

pp.   60-69. 

(62)  J.  W.  Carr:   Manual  of  the  Anderson  (Ind.)  Public  Schools, 

1901,  pp.  6-12. 
John  Dietrich:    Report  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  Out- 
line of  the  Course  of  Study,  Colorado  Springs,  Colo.,  1902, 
pp.  155-161.    Course  of  Study  for  the  Common  Schools  of 
Illinois,  Third  General  Revision,  pp.  161-166. 

(63)  C.  P.  Carey:    Manual  of  Elementary  Course  of  Study,  Wis- 

consin, 1904,  pp.  152-153. 

(64)  New  York  School  Report,  1902,  pp.  XCVI-XCVII. 

(65)  Indiana  School  Report,  1902,  pp.  251,  255,  259,  293. 

(66)  Missouri  School  Report,  1903,  p.  3. 

(67)  Same  work,  pp.  238,284. 

(68)  Report  U.   S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  1902,  Vol.  I,  p. 

LXXVIII. 

(69)  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Twelve,  p.  14.     University  of 

Chicago  Press. 

(70)  Same  work,  p.  61. 

(71)  New  Jersey  School  Report,  1903,  p.  XXIV. 

(72)  Same  work,  p.  XXV. 

(73)  Same  work,  p.  XXVI. 

(74)  New  York  School  Report,  1903,  p.  118.  - 

(75)  Michigan  School  Report,   1903,   p.    194. 

(76)  Maine  School  Report,  1903,  p.  154. 

(77)  Iowa  School  Report,  1903,  pp.  14,  83,  of  "Statistics." 

(78)  Missouri  School  Report,  1903,  p.  3. 

(79)  Pennsylvania  School  Report,  1903,  p.  750. 

(80)  Same  work,  p.  756, 

(81)  Missouri  School  Report,  1903,  p.  3. 

(82)  Michigan  School  Report,  1902,  p.  172. 

(83)  Wisconsin   School  Report,    1901-'2,    pp.    2,    20,    "Statistical 

Tables." 

(84)  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Twelve,  p.  15.     University  of 
Chicago  Press. 

Michigan  School  Report,  1903,  p.  186. 
New  York  School  Report,  1903,  p.  XCVL 
Wisconsin  School  Report,  1901-'2,  p.  6. 


(85 
(86 
(87 
(88 
(89 


(90 
(91 
(92 
(93 


Iowa  School  Report,  1903,  pp.  188,189. 

W.  W.  Stetson:   A  Study  of  Our  Public  School  System,  etc., 

p.  7.     Educational  Dept.,  Maine.     Augusta,  Me. 
Consolidation    of   Schools,    University    of    Illinois    Bulletin, 

Vol.  I,  No.  10.     Urbana,  111.,  1904. 
W.   K.   Flower:    Consolidation  of  School  Districts,  pp.  26, 

27,28.     Lincoln,  Neb.,  1903. 
J.     S.    Mill:     Principles    of    Political    Economy,    Bk.    II, 

Ch.  XV,  §1. 
Report  of  the  Committee  of  Twelve,  p.  55. 


THE  RURAL  SCHOOL   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES      121 

(94)  Pennsylvania  School  Report,  1903,  "Statistical  Statements." 

pp.  17,  90-111. 

(95)  A.  S.  Draper:    Supervision  of  the  Country  Schools,  in  the 

School  Bulletin,  Dec,  1904,  p.  63.     Syracuse,  N.  Y 

(96)  Georgia  School  Report,  1903,  pp.  34,  35. 

(97)  Course  of  Study  for  the  Common  Schools  of  Illinois,  Third 

General  Revision,  1903. 

(98)  Course  of  Study  for  the  Common  Schools  of  Kansas,  1904. 

pp.  5-10. 

(99)  State  Manual  and  Course  of  Study  for  the  District  Schools 

of  Michigan,    Sixth   Edition,   1903. 

(100)  Course  of  Study,  South  Carolina,  1901,  throughout. 

(101)  A  Manual  and  Graded  Course  of  Study  of  Primary  Instruc- 

tion for  the  Country  and  Village  Schools  of  W.  Va.,  3rd 
Ed.,  1904,  throughout. 

(102)  Hand-Book  for  Iowa  Schools,  1900,  pp.  66  et  seq. 

(103)  Reference  (98),  pp.  42  et  seq. 

(104)  Reference    (99),  p.   70. 

(105)  Elementary   Course  of   Study,  etc.,  for  New   York,  1908, 

pp.  9-13.    Albany. 

(106)  *  *  *  Elementary   Course   of   Study  *  *  *,   Wisconsin,    1904, 

pp.  24,26. 

(107)  G.  H.  Wilson:    Course  of  Study  for  the  Schools  of  Radnor 

Township,  Delaware  Co.,  Pa.     (P.  C,  Wayne.) 

(108)  Second  Biennial  Report  of  the  Kansas  Traveling  Libraries 

Commission,  1901-'2,  pp.  1-7.     Topeka,  Kansas. 
(110)    School  Libraries — Law,  List,  Rules  and  Suggestions,  for 
South  Carolina,  1904. 

(110)  Reference    (101),  p.  38. 

(111)  New  Jersey  School  Law,  1903,  pp.  78,  79. 

(112)  Partial  List  of  references  on  the  subject  of  Consolidation 

and  Free  Transportation: 

The  Consolidation  of  Schools,  etc..  University  of  Illinois 
Bulletin,  Vol.  I,  No.  10.    Urbana,  111.,  1904.    48  pp. 

The  Consolidation  of  School  Districts,  etc.,  W.  K.  Flower, 
State  Supt.  Public  Instruction,  Lincoln,  Neb.,  1903.    32  pp. 

Consolidation  of  Districts  and  Transportation  of  Children, 
R.  C.  Barrett,  State  Supt.,  Des  Moines,  la.  (Ch.  II  of 
the  Bien.  School  Report  for  period  ending  Sept.  30, 
1901.)      69  pp. 

Iowa  School  Report  for  period  ending  Sept.  30,  1903,  Ch. 
VII.     38  pp. 

J.  F.  Rigg:  Conditions  and  Needs  of  Iowa  Rural  Schools, 
Des  Moines,  la.,  1905.     81  pp. 

J.  W.  Olsen:  Consolidation  of  Rural  Schools  and  Transpor- 
tation  of  Pupils  at  Public  Expense,  reprint  from  Minn. 
Biennial  School  Report  for  1902,  with  additions.     34  pp. 

Bedichek  and  Baskett:  The  Consolidation  of  Rural  Schools 
with  and  without  Transportation:  Bulletin  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Texas,  1904.     Austin,  Texas.     38  pp. 

Western  Journal  of  Education,  June,  1903.  San  Francisco. 
"This  is  a  special  number  devoted  to  the  consolidation  of 
schools,  and  gives  an  exceptionally  good  collection  of  re- 
ports and  articles  on  this  subject." 

Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  1902,  Vol. 
II,  pp.  2353-2369.  "This  article  contains  a  brief  list  of  the 
best  State  reports  on  consolidation,  together  with  selected 
quotations  and  other  information."     16  pp. 

Proceedings  and  Addresses  of  the  Nat.  Educ.  Asso.,  1903, 


122         THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

pp.  919-935.     "The  first  of  the  two  articles  in  the  volume 

contains  a  very  full  bibliography  of  the  subject."     16  pp. 
Same  work,  1904,  pp.  313-319;  Consolidation  of  Schools,  an 

address  by  J.  Y.  Joyner,  State  Supt.,  North  Carolina.  7  pp. 
An   Inquiry   Concerning    Conveyance    of   Scholars   in   New 

Hampshire,  from  the  51st  N.  H.  School  Report,  1899-1900, 

pp.   271-292.     Channing  Folsom,   State   Supt.   of   Schools. 

21  pp. 
A.  A.  Upham:    Transportation  of  School  Children  at  Public 

Expense,  Educ.  Rev.,  Vol.  XX,  pp.  241  et  seq. 

(113)  Report  of  the  Cotnmittee  of  Twelve,  p.  61. 

(114)  On  the  Importance,  Need  and  Difficulties  of  School  Super- 

vision  see: 

W.  E.  Chancellor:  Our  Schools,  Their  AdministraMon  and 
Supervision,  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  Boston,  1904,  Ch.  IV,  on 
Supervision,  and  Ch.  XIV,  on  Education  for  Supervision. 
This  is  our  best  book  on  the  subject  with  which  it  deals. 
The  author's  conception  of  the  function  of  the  Superinten- 
dent, and  what  it  takes  to  equip  him  adequately,  is  both 
discouraging  and  inspiring,  depending  upon  one's  mood 
and  view-point.  Perhaps  for  that  very  reason  it  is  all  the 
more  likely  to  be  a  helpful  book. 

J.  L.  Pickard:  School  Supervision,  Editor's  Preface  by  W.  T. 
Harris,  and  Chs.  Ill,  V,  IX,  XII,  XVI,  XVII.  Appleton 
&  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Report  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  1902,  Vol.  I,  pp. 
556-560. 

Same  work,  1901,  Vol.  I,  pp.  1016-1017.  On  Expert  Super- 
vision Needed  for  Country  Districts  (in  the  South). 

A.  W.  Edson :  Leadership  in  the  School  Superintendent,  Edu- 
cation, Vol.  24,  pp.  65  et  seq. 

J.  T.  Prince:  Evolution  of  School  Supervision,  Educ.  Rev., 
Vol.  XXII,  pp.  148  et  sea. 

Levi  Seeley:  A  New  School  Management,  New  York,  1903, 
pp.  161-178. 

Ruric  Nevel  Roark:  Economy  in  Education,  New  York,  1905, 
pp.  128-133,  et  passim. 

Terman:  The  Psychology  and  Pedagogy  of  Leadership, 
Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  413  et  seq.,  bears  on  the  problem 
indirectly. 

(115)  Chas.  A.  McMurry:    Course  of  Study  in  the  Eight  Grades, 

Vol.  I,  Grades  I  to  IV,  1906;  Vol.  II,  Grades  V  to  VIII, 
1906.  MacMillan,  N.  Y.  Vol.  I,  Preface  and  pp.  1-52; 
Vol.  II,  pp.  1-27. 

J.  A.  H.  Keith:  Elementary  Education,  Its  Problems  and 
Processes,  pp.  104-107.     Chicago,  1906. 

W.  E.  Chancellor:  Our  Schools,  etc.  Ch.  XII,  The  New  Edu- 
cation and  the  Course  of  Study.     Boston,  1904. 

R.  N.  Roark:  Economy  vn  Ediication,  N.  Y.,  1905.  Gives  a 
broad  discussion  of  the  curriculum,  pp.  171-228. 

J.  R.  Crowell:  Course  of  Study  in  the  Elementary  Schools 
of  the  U.  S.,  Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  tV,  pp.  294  et  seq. 

H.  H.  Seerley:  Curriculum  for  the  Public  Schools,  Ed.  Rev., 
Vol.   XXVII,  pp.   179  et  seq.     A   strong  article. 

F.  M.  McMurry:  Advisable  Omissions  from  the  Elementary 
Curriculum,  and  the  Basis  for  Them,  Ed.  Rev.,  Vol.  XXVII, 
pp.  478  et  seq.     Another  excellent  discussion. 

W.  F.  Edwards:    Changes  in  the  Course  of  Study,  Gunton's 


THE  RURAX.  SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  123 

Mag.,  Vol.  XVII,  pp.  491  et  seq. 
G.  Stanley  Hall :  The  Ideal  School  as  Based  on  Child  Study, 
Forum,  Vol.  XXXII,  pp.  24-39.  Bears  more  or  less  directly 
upon  the  curriculum,  proposing  a  sort  of  philosophy  for  a 
rational  course  of  study  based  on  the  results  of  Child 
Study. 

(116)  Chas.  A.  McMurry:   Special  Method  in  the  Reading  of  Com- 

plete English  Classics.     MacMillan  Co.,  1903.     Chs.  I,  II, 

VI,  and  throughout.  This  is  the  most  helpful  single  refer- 
ence for  those  who  are  seeking  light  on  this  important 

subject.     It  has  a  valuable  list  of  books  occupying  some 

30   pages. 
J.  G.  Gayley :    The  Classics  for  Children,  Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  Ill, 

pp.  342  et  seq. 
Clark  Wissler:    Interest  of  the  Child  in  the  Reading  Work 

of  the  Elementary  School,  Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  V,  pp.  523  et  seq. 
Geo.   Griffith:     Course  of  Reading  for  Children,  Ed.   Rev., 

Vol.  XXVII,  pp.,  65  et  seq. 
Ezra  Allen:    The  Pedagogy  of  Myths  in  the  Grades,  Ped. 

Sem.,  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  258  et  seq. 
H.  E.  Scudder:   Literature  in  the  School,  Riv.  Lit.  Ser.,  No. 

37,   Extra   D. 
J.  D.  Logan:    Source  and  Aesthetic  Values  of  Permanency 

in  Art  and  Literature,  Philos.  R&v.,  Vol  X,  pp.  36  et  seq. 
S.  A.  Underwood:    The  Spiritual  in  Literature,  Arena,  Vol. 

XXV,  pp.  36  et  seq. 
C.  Vostroosky:    Children's   Tastes  in  Reading,  Ped.  Sem., 

Vol.    VI,   pp.    523   et   seq. 
J.  C.  Dana :  Reading  for  Children,  Libr.  Journal,  Vol.  XXII, 

pp.  187  et  seq. 
W.  C.  Lane:    Importance  of  *  *  *  for  Children,  N.  Church 

Rev.,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  424  et  seq.     (Jl.) 
H.  W.  Mabie:   Lit.  as  a  Resource,  Chaut.,  Vol.  XXII,  pp.  65 

et  seq.      (O.) 
Miss  Schreiber:    Lit.  in  the  Grades  Below  the  High  School, 

Proceedings  and  Addresses  of  the  N.  E.  A.,  1901,  p.  288. 

Very  good. 

(117)  M.G.Brumbaugh:    The  Making  of  a  Teacher,  Philadelphia., 

1905.  Chs.  II,  VI;  and  pp.  5,  18-19,  145.  It  is  a  claim  of 
this  helpful  book  that  the  teacher  can  and  must  be  made. 
We  cannot  wait  for  him  to  be  born.  To  make  and  inspire 
the  teacher  will  be  the  greatest  function  of  the  superin- 
tendent in  the  early  future. 

(118)  J.  M.  Baldwin:    Soc.  and  Ethic.  Interprets,  in  Ment.  Devel, 

p.  100.  See  also  Chs.  Ill,  IV,  XIII,  XIV,  et  pas.,  for  our 
best  treatment  of  this  subject,  which  is  of  vital  interest 
to  educational  thinkers.     N.  Y.,  1902,  3rd  Ed. 

Miss  E.  M.  Haskell:  Imitation  in  Children,  Ped.  Sem.,  Vol. 
Ill,  pp.  30  et  seq. 

M.  H.  Small :  Suggestibility  of  Children,  Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  IV, 
pp.  176  et  seq. 

Caroline  Frear :   Imitation,  Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  382  et  seq. 

M.  G.  Tarde:    As  in  reference  (7). 

(119)  Cf.    P.    H.    Hanus:     Educational    Aims    and    Educational 

Values,  p.  45.     MacMillan  &  Co.,  1^.  Y.,  1899. 

(120)  Report  of  Proceedings  and  Addresses,  N.  E.  A.,  1903,  pp. 

241-247.  President  Eliot  on  the  full  utilization  of  a  school 
plant. 


124      THE  RURAL   SCHOOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

(121)  Cf.  P.  H.  Hanus:  A  Modern  Sc^ooZ,  p.  9.    MacMillan  &  Co., 

New  York,  1904. 

(122)  Op.  cit.,  pp.  6,7. 

(123)  Op.  cit.,  p.  26. 

(124)  Thos.  Davidson:   Aristotle,  pp.  46,  47.   Scribner's,  New  York. 

(125)  As    a    groundwork    for    the    conception    of    the    cultural 

state,  one  might  read:  Plato's  Republic,  Bks.  II,  III, 
IV;  Aristotle's  Politics  and  his  Nicomachean  Ethics;  J.  K. 
Bluntschli's  The  Theory  of  the  State,  especially  Ch.  IV  of 
Bk.  V;  B.  Bosanquet's  The  Philosophical  Theory  of  the 
State,  especially  Ch.  VII  for  a  splendid  treatment  of  the 
"general  will"  after  the  analogy  of  a  mind;  McKechnie's 
The  State  and  the  Individual;  W.  W.  Willoughby's  An 
Examination  of  the  Nature  of  the  State  and  his  Social 
Justice;  Wundt's  Ethics,  Vol.  Ill,  Part  IV,  Ch.  Ill,  Sec- 
tions 3  and  4;  J.  H.  W.  Stuckenberg's  Sociology,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  91-131;  with  Hegel's  Rechtsphilosophie  (tr.  1896,  Lon- 
don) and  Philosophy  of  History,  and  Montesquieu's  Spirit 
of  Laws,  if  one  cares  to  branch  out  a  little  further. 

(126)  Goethe's  Wilhelm  Meister,  Wanderjahre  (tr.  by  J.  Carlyle, 

1826). 

(127)  On  the  spirit  which  is  back  of  these  most  promising  of 

modern  experiments  in  education  one  should  read  Dr. 
Cecil  Reddie's  book  entitled  Abbottsholme,  together  with 
the  several  appreciations  it  contains,  and  M.  Edmond 
Demolins'  two  books,  Anglo-Saxon  Superiority  and  L'Ecole 
Nouvelle.  Various  educational  travelers  have  written  in- 
teresting reports  of  the  work  at  these  different  schools, 
for  which  see  contemporary  educational  journals. 

(128)  M.    V.    O'Shea:     Dynamic   Factors   in  Education,   Part   I. 

MacMillan,  N.  Y.,  1906. 

(129)  E.  P.  Powell:    The  County  Home.    McClure,  Phillips  &  Co., 

N.  Y.,  1905. 
Contemporary  Review,  Vol.  LXXXI,  pp.  61  et  seq.  Article 
on  the  Agricultural  Revival,  by  C.  W.  Sorensen.  Some  of 
the  Letters  of  Geo.  Washington  and  many  of  Thos.  Jeffer- 
son; and  many  publications  of  our  best  agricultural  col- 
leges should  be  read  to  imbue  one  who  needs  it  with  an 
appreciation  of  country  life. 

(130)  Cf.   Edwin  Hatch:    Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and   Usages 

Upon  the  Christian  Church  (Hilbert  Lectures,  1888).  Wil- 
liams and  Norgate,  London,  1904,  pp.  116-118.  This  pas- 
sage is  cited  as  confirmatory  of  my  own  conclusion,  which 
was  reached  and  written  before  reading  this  suggestive 
work. 

(131)  Roussean's   Social   Contract    (tr.   by   R.    M.    Harrington). 

Putnam's,  1893.    Bk.  II,  Chs.  VI  and  VII. 


1ND£X 


Age  of  teachers  in  several  countries,  p.  38. 
Agricultural  colleges,  pp.  12  seq. 
Agriculture,  department  of,  pp.  12  seq. 
Specialization  in  agriculture,  pp.  12  seq. 
Agroeentric  influences,  pp.  8-17. 
Architecture,  rural,  improvements  in,  p.  16. 
American  child  less  advanced  in  education,  pp.  33  seq. 
Arithmetical  instruction  in  German  schools,  pp.  32,  33. 
Art  room  and  art  collection  in  rural  school,  pp.  116-117. 
Assembly  hall  of  future  rural  school,  uses  of,  pp.  113-116. 
Athens  and  aristocratic  education,  pp.  29,  30. 
Atmosphere  of  future  rural  school,  pp.  103,  104. 
Attitude  of  the  community  towards  its  school,  pp.  95,  96. 

B 

Baldwin,  J.  M.,  quoted  on  imitation  versus  creation,  p.  95. 
Brookline,  Mass.,  referred  to,  p.  44. 


Centralization  of  rural  schools,  Table  IX,  and  pp.  79-82. 

Centralized  school,  the  school  of  the  future,  pp.  104-111. 

Changes  in  the  common  schools,  pp.  21  seq. 

Changes  in  the  social  and  economic  conditions  of  rural  communities, 

pp.  8  seq. 
Child  study  and  its  significance,  p.  6. 
Circulating  library  of  state,  p.  115. 
Classification  of  Prussian  school  children,  p.  30. 
Co-operation  as  the  method  of  education,  pp.  101-102. 
Cornman,  Dr.  O.  P.,  on  spelling,  p.  35. 
Cost,  per  capita,  in  rural  versus  city  schools,  p.  50. 
Country  life,  value  of,  p.  98  ;  Reference  List,  (129). 
Country  parents,  ambition  of,  p.  19. 
Course  of  study  in  several  states.  Table  VII,  and  pp.  61-69. 

"  "      ,  points  worthy  of  notice,  pp.  89-96. 

"  '•      ,  changes  in,  pp.  22,  23  ;  90,  91. 

"  "      ,  in  Prussian  schools,  Table  II,  and  pp.  30-36. 

*'  "      ,  literature,  science,  art,  etc.,  p.  94. 

"  '*      ,  reading  matter  of,  pp.  66-69. 

"  "      ,  methods  of  readaptation,  p.  91. 

Course  of  study,  some  principles  involved,  p.  90. 

"  "      ,  state  and  county,  how  far  used,  pp.  89,  90. 

",  "      ,  use  of  literary  wholes  and  shorter  poems,  pp.  92,  93 

"'  "      ,  urban  and  rural  compared.  Table  III,  and  pp.  42-46. 

"  "     ,  weakness  of  on  motor  and  expressive  side,  pp.  94,  95 

D. 

Dark  room  in  the  rural  school,  pp.  116.  117. 
Debating  societies  in  rural  schools,  pp.  76,  77. 
Diminishing  returns,  law  of,  p.  18. 

Draper,  A.  S.,  on  imperative  need  of  expert  supervision  in  the  rural 
schools  of  New  York,  p.  53. 

E. 

East  Orange,  New  Jersey,  referred  to.  Table  III,  and  pp.  43-46. 
Economic  conditions  in  rural  communities,  pp.  8  seq. 
Economic  conditions,  Mr.  Bentley's  study,  p.  25. 
Educational  advancement  and  leadership,  p.  27. 


Educational  experiment  stations,  p.  p.  110. 
Evolution  in  education,  p.  27. 

Experimental  agriculture  in  connection  with  rural  school  work,  pp. 
109,  110. 

F. 
Farmers'  institutes,  pp.  13,  14. 
Farmers'  movement,  pp.  11,  12. 
Free  rural  mail  delivery,  p.  10. 

G. 

German  child  ahead  of  American  child  of  the  same  age,  pp.  33-35. 
German  Schools,  course  of  study,  pp.  30-34. 
German  Schoolmaster,  pp.  29  seq. 
German  teaching  body,  pp.  35-40. 
Germany  and  democratic  education,  pp.  29,  30. 
Goethe's  educational  province,  p.  110. 

H. 

"Higher  economies",  p.  25. 

Hours  of  labor,  economic  and  social  results  of  reducing,  p.  10. 

I- 

Impoverishment  of  rural  districts,  p.  20. 
Instinct  of  activity,  of  progress,  p.  20. 
Instinct  of  change  and  curiosity,  p.  19. 

L. 

Labor-saving  machinery,  introduction  of,  pp.  9  seq. 

Laissez-faire  policy  in  education,  p.  27. 

Leadership  in  education,  need  of,  pp.  7,  27,  28. 

Leisure,  demand  for,  p.  19. 

Length  of  school  term  in  country  and  town,  pp.  46,  47. 

LePlay's  method,  p.  25. 

Libraries  in  schools.  Table  VITI.,  and  pp.  74,  75. 

Library  in  school  work,  pp.  113,  116. 

Life  of  the  home,  significance  of  for  education,  pp.  24,  25. 

Literary  societies  in  schools,  pp.  76,  77. 

Literature,  use  of  in  the  school,  pp.  66,  69. 

M. 

Mail  order  stores  and  rural  life,  p.  17. 
Material  equipment  of  rural  and  urban  schools,  pp.  41,  42. 
Metric  system,  use  of  in  German  schools,  p.  35. 
Montclair,  N.  J.,  use  of  stories  and  literature,  p.  44. 
Musical  instrument,  use  of  in  schools.  Table  VI.  and  p.  77. 
Music  room,  p.  109. 

N.' 
Narrow  measures  of  some  fathers,  p.  19. 
National  reform  press,  p.  12. 
Nature  study  through  agriculture,  pp.  63  seq. 
Needs  must  be  strongly  felt  by  the  community,  pp.  95,  96. 
Newspaper  and  rural  life,  pp.  10,  11. 
New  England  type  of  character,  p.  18. 
Neighborhood's  attitude  towards  its  school,  p.  25. 
Normal  schools  and  rural  school  teachers,  p.  24. 
Normal  school  graduate  looked  after  in  Germany,  p.  37, 

P. 

Patrons  of  Husbandry,  pp.  11,  12. 

People's  lack  of  knowledge  of  self-interest,  pp.  27,  28. 

Points  of  strength  and  of  weakness  in  rural  school,  Table  XI. 


Prussian  common  school  system,  pp.  29-40, 

Psychology  of  natural  environment  for  educational  purposes,  p.  113. 

Public  opinion,  low  standards  on  preparation  of  the  teacher,  p.  51,  52. 

Q. 
Qualitative  method  and  standards,  p.  1. 
Quantitative  method  and  standards,  p.  1. 
Quantity  of  reading  matter  read  in  schools,  p.  93. 
Questionaire  material,  notes  on,  pp.  60,  61. 
Questionaire  material,  general  discussion  of,  pp.  87-96. 

R. 
Railroads  and  rural  communities,  pp.  8,  9. 
Readers  versus  classics,  pp.  91,  94. 
Reading  matter  in  schools,  pp.  66,  71. 
Religious  training  in  German  schools,  pp.  31,  32. 
Rural  communties,  economic  and  social  conditions  of,  pp.  8  seq. 
Rural  school  of  to-day  and  of  an  earlier  day,  pp.  21  seq. 
Rural  school  of  America  and  that  of  Prussia,  pp.  29  seq. 
Rural  and  city  school  of  America  compared,  pp.  41  seq. 
Rural  school :  iuductive  study,  pp,  54  seq. 
Rural  school  of  the  future,  pp.  97  seq. 
Rural  exodus,  its  causes  and  meaning,  pp.  17  seq. 
Rural  type  of  children,  changed,  pp.  24,  25. 
Rural  school,  course  of  study.    See  course  of  study. 

S. 
Salaries  of  teachers.  Table  V.,  and  pp.  49-51. 
Sanitary  appointments  in  urban  and  rural  schools,  p.  42. 
School  collections,  cabinets,  etc.,  pp.  75  seq. 
School  exhibition,  p.  25. 

School  house,  use  of  for  social  gatherings,  pp.  83-84. 
School  kitchen,  p.  117. 
School  as  a  seminary,  The,  pp.  101,  103. 
School  as  a  social  centre.  The,  p.  100. 
School  supervision,  pp.  87-89. 
School  term.  Table  I,  and  p.  27. 
Shop  for  hand  work,  The,  p.  110. 
Social  science,  method  of,  p.  25. 
Spirit  of  true  leadership  in  education,  pp.  27-28. 
Standard  of  life,  significance,  of,  pp.  8-17  ;  25. 
Supervision  of  American  rural  schools,  pp.  87-89. 
Superintendent  and  his  power,  The,  pp.  108-110. 

T. 
Teachers  in  rural  schools,  pp.  23,  24. 
Teacher  in  the  rural  school  of  the  future,  pp.  Ill,  112. 
Telephone  in  rural  life,  pp.  16,  17. 
Tentative  phase  in  education,  p.  6. 
Text-books  in  use  and  how  they  are  chosen,  Table  X. 
Text-books  and  the  method  of  making  them,  p.  5. 
Time  allotment  for  the  different  subjects.  Table  IV,  and  p.  45. 
Training  in  teachers,  lack  of,  pp.  51-53. 
Trolleys,  in  rural  life,  pp.  8,  9. 

U. 
University  extension,  p.  116. 
Utilization  of  school  plant,  p.  100. 

V. 
Villages,  the  advantages  of  as  a  location  for  the  consolidated  school, 
pp.  102,  103. 

W. 
Weather  map,  use  of  in  the  school,  pp.  54,  56. 
Wisconsin  rural  schools  referred  to.  Table  IV,  and  p.  45. 


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